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Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara announced today (Wednesday) announced the closure of the investigation against former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen over the $20,000 he received from Australian business tycoon James Packer in 2016. The State Attorney’s Office and the head of the police’s investigative and intelligence branch both recommended that the investigation against Cohen be closed, the attorney general's office stated, The investigation had been opened by the previous Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, in 2021, after the allegations against Cohen surfaced. “The inquiry showed that the Mossad’s legal adviser at the time approved receipt of the gift,” the attorney general's office...

Something has changed in the Mossad. And that something means the impending Iran nuclear deal will not likely end Israeli covert operations against Tehran. If at some point in the past, it was content to take orders from prime ministers and be included around the table next to the juggernaut IDF, the spy agency is now taking center stage more often and helping to shape policymakers’ views much more deeply. There was a brief moment when Yossi Cohen stepped down in June 2021 and was replaced by David Barnea, who would supposedly lower the clandestine agency’s profile, when some predicted...

Former Mossad chief: If Iran develops a nuclear weapon, lsrael must be able to stop Iran on its own. There is greater opposition to Iran’s nuclear program than in the past, former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said Tuesday at the Jerusalem Post Conference. “I think that Iran, to this day, is not even close to acquiring a nuclear weapon... This is due to longstanding efforts by some forces in the world,” he said in response to a question by Jerusalem Post intelligence reporter Yonah Jeremy Bob, which included references to Israeli covert actions in the Islamic Republic. Iran’s position is...

Welcome to Your Weekend the sentiments of my week expressed in the music set that reflects my opening up the boxes of my past to sort things out and throw away some things and keep others. The cards and letters from people in my past like the guy that lived in an "Animal House" fraternity setting and ended up joining the Salvation Army. The man who was the Best Man at my wedding who told me the truth about myself just years after I got married and was working in the mainstream media serving as the officer of the church...

In what could be a landmark in the Middle East’s history, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Saudi Arabia on Sunday to meet the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Israeli media reported. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, currently on a tour of the region, was also reportedly present at the meeting in Neom, Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu was accompanied by the head of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Yossi Cohen, who is widely regarded to have played a key role in preparing the groundwork for the recent normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Arab Gulf states, news...

While Israelis have been celebrating the new potential ties with the United Arab Emirates, the Turkish ruling party is angling across the Mediterranean in Istanbul to become a much larger challenge to the Jewish state in the coming years. Ankara’s current regime under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been increasingly hostile to Israel for the last decade, comparing the country to Nazi Germany and vowing to “liberate” Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Now reports indicate that intelligence and military assessments in Israel see Ankara as a challenge and threat. A recent article in The Times noted that Mossad head Yossi Cohen...

The mysterious flight between the two nations had many asking "Whodunnit?" A privately owned, unidentified Challenger 604 jet departed from Ben-Gurion International Airport, landing first in the Jordanian capital of Amman and then in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh on Tuesday evening, causing many to question which Israeli decided to pay the Saudis a visit. The plane in question departed from Israel and flew to an airport in Amman, where it remained on the ground for about two minutes before taking off again and landing in the Saudi capital. After a little less than an hour, the plane, privately...

The Times of Israel is reporting that a new computer virus 'more powerful' than the Stuxnet worm that devastated the Iranian nuclear weapons program in 2010 has been unleashed on Iran's "infrastructure and strategic systems." While the extent of the damage is unknown, the new virus has been described as “more violent, more advanced and more sophisticated" than Stuxnet. That virus, jointly developed by US and Israel, is believed to have set back the Iranian nuclear weapons programs by several months to several years depending on the source. The report came hours after Israel said its Mossad intelligence agency had...

Hamas Engineer 'Negotiated Arms Deals With North Korea, Assassinated by Mossad' in Malaysia Report in The New York Times cites intelligence officials saying Batsh was killed as part of Mossad attempt to stop Hamas operations overseas, reveals ties to North Korea Haaretz | 26.04.2018 09:19 Updated: 12:26 PM Fadi al-Batsh, the Hamas engineer gunned down in Malaysia last week, was reportedly involved in talks with North Korea on arms intended for Gaza, The New York Times reported Thursday. To really understand the Middle East - subscribe to Haaretz According to the report, Batsh was killed as part of an alleged operation by...

The head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency is “100 percent certain” that Iran remains committed to developing a nuclear bomb and believes the international community must change or scrap its nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic. The comments by Yossi Cohen added an influential voice to a global debate over Iran’s nuclear program ahead of a deadline set by President Donald Trump for toughening the deal. Trump, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been a fierce critic of the 2015 nuclear deal. Trump has set a mid-May deadline to reach agreement with the European nations to toughen restrictions on...

US State Department reported to say Israelis would ‘twist details’ to undermine negotiations European officials have confirmed that the US State Department cautioned them against providing Israel with sensitive information on the current round of negotiations with Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons program, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The account came amid vehement denials by the White House and State Department that they had stopped updating Jerusalem on the progress in the talks, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted Monday that Israel was indeed being kept in the dark. The report quoted an unnamed European official involved...

House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday accused the White House of "animosity" towards Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, whose planned speech before the US Congress has stirred up a political furor in both countries. Boehner defended his decision to invite Netanyahu to give an address on Iran's nuclear program before Congress next month, flouting diplomatic convention which says that such an invitation should have come from US President Barack Obama. Boehner said he felt it was important to do an end-run around White House "interference," amid a raging debate over whether to soften sanctions on Tehran. "I wanted to make...

Washington's policy of briefing Israel on progress in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program has not changed, senior US officials told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, despite reports to the contrary in Israeli media. Channel 2 reported earlier in the day the US would halt its briefings to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in light of his planned speech to Congress. Netanyahu is expected to criticize the state of the global diplomatic effort, which is geared towards crafting a comprehensive nuclear agreement. "Conversations continue with Israel on the Iran nuclear negotiations," one senior State Department official said. "Under Secretary [of...

Washington's policy of briefing Israel on progress in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program has not changed, senior US officials told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, despite reports to the contrary in Israeli media. Channel 2 reported earlier in the day the US would halt its briefings to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in light of his planned speech to Congress. Netanyahu is expected to criticize the state of the global diplomatic effort, which is geared towards crafting a comprehensive nuclear agreement. "Conversations continue with Israel on the Iran nuclear negotiations," one senior State Department official said. "Under Secretary [of...

Senior officials in both the State Department and White House denied on Sunday evening reports in the Israeli media that the Obama administration is “punishing” Israel for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress and has stopped sharing information with Israel about the nuclear talks with Iran. The report on Channel 2 News stated that Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, who is in charge of the nuclear talks with Iran, has announced that she is no longer briefing Israel about the talks, because the Israeli government is using the information in a manipulative and political way. Susan Rice, Obama's national...

White House denies Channel 2 report claiming US has stopped updating Israel about developments in nuclear negotiations with Iran in response to Netanyahu's planned Congress speech, after Boehner admits he failed to tell administration he had invited PM. According to the report by Israel's Channel 2, US Undersecretary of State, Wendy Sherman, who is involved in the talks has announced she will no longer be updating Israelis about the talks. Susan Rice, US President Obama's National Security Advisor, has also reportedly announced she is cutting ties with her Israeli counterpart, Yossi Cohen, who serves as Netanyahu's National Security Adviso