Israeli leaders, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on down, have pledged to hunt down all Hamas terrorists involved in the October 7 massacre to the ends of the earth.
Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen thinks that the circle should be widened to include any Iranians involved in the attack as well.
“I think we have to find any and every single Iranian from the Ministry of Intelligence, from the army, from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose filthy hands were on the [October 7] operation directly and indirectly and pursue them,” he told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Tuesday.
“This is something that the Mossad and others should do immediately,” he added.
And Cohen knows something about pursuing Iranians. During his tenure as head of the Mossad from 2016 to 2021, Israel carried out several interventions inside Iran, including the stealing of its nuclear archives, aimed at setting back its nuclear program.
Also during his tenure, Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated. In a television interview in 2021, just before stepping down from his Mossad position, Cohen – when asked about the assassination of Israel’s enemies – said, “If the man constitutes a capability that endangers the citizens of Israel, he must stop existing.”
While Cohen did not think the Iranians “micro-planned” the savage attack on Simchat Torah, nevertheless he did say the Islamic Republic is “all over Hamas.”
“They recruit the people, they train the people, they support them financially, they support them with ammunition and armaments, they transfer technology to Hamas people so they can locally produce rockets, precision-guided kits, and rockets and missiles,” he said.
“We see evidence that Iran is trying to enhance its capacities abroad against Israelis and Jewish people. This is something Iran has to be held accountable for,” he said.
Cohen added that while he does not know whether the Iranians had prior knowledge of the attack, they were updated after it took place.
“After the attack, Iran was updated, and, of course, they are very happy this is what happened,” he said.
Israel has no choice but to use Qatar to talk with Hamas about hostages
COHEN SPOKE to the Post on Tuesday, the morning after the IDF announced that commandos had rescued Pvt. Ori Megidish from Hamas captivity, and soon after Cohen returned from Qatar, where he was engaged in discussions with the Qataris over arranging a deal that would free the hostages. According to media reports, current Mossad head David Barnea was in Qatar at the same time.
“Hamas can offer us different structures for different types of deals that we will have to react to,” he said when asked what he thought of an idea floated by some family members of the 240 hostages being held that Israel should consider a deal whereby it would release all Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails for a release of all the hostages.
“I have to say with a great sense of sorrow this is not only about what Israel wants or declares. The bastards on the other side, Hamas, the killers on the other side, have their own wishes. And we react to their offers,” he said.
Cohen said he does not know of any concrete offer currently on the table. “You don’t know what the prices will be, what they are willing to do, who is going to be released under which conditions,” he said.
The former Mossad head turned sarcastic when asked about criticism leveled against him for negotiating with the Qataris, who over the years have given Hamas substantial financial, diplomatic, and – via Al Jazeera – media support.
“If you want to release hostages with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization worldwide, who would be your negotiator?” he asked.
“I suggest the Swiss or the Swedes. I think you could approach them. If not, try the Norwegians. If that doesn’t work, I am sorry to be cynical about that, go to Qatar. This is the only country, the only one, that could speak with Hamas. They are the only ones on earth who could speak to Hamas. Who would you choose?”
Cohen said that part of the time during his meeting with the Qataris was spent “transmitting that this was a massacre, that they killed us, they butchered us.” His interlocutors, he said, were skeptical of what even happened on October 7 and questioned him about the Hamas brutality displayed. There were questions, he said, such as “are you sure they did this and that?”
Asked whether he thought the Qataris could deliver, Cohen replied that they could deliver messages to and from Hamas but do not have the type of leverage over the organization that Iran has. At the same time, they could “push” the terrorist organization on the issue, he said.
Cohen praised the security forces for the rescue of Megidish, saying that it shows both the determination of the army “to bring people home,” but even more than that, it shows that “we are willing to risk our soldiers and special forces to do that.”
While this operation will obviously cause Hamas to guard the hostages they have more carefully, “it is hard to predict” whether this successful operation will make it more difficult to carry out other such missions.
“Let’s hope that our security forces and special forces are better than Hamas, and that hopefully whenever they see a chance to free a hostage, they will do that,” he said.
COHEN, WHO played a critical behind-the-scenes role in forging relations with Gulf countries that led to the Abraham Accords, was not overly concerned that the war in Gaza would lead to a downgrade of ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, or Morocco.
“Countries that have been in peace treaties with us for some years will not eventually downgrade relations only because of a war against a terror organization that they do not appreciate,” he said.
Despite his confidence, however, Jordan – one country with which Israel has had a peace treaty since 1994 – recalled its ambassador on Wednesday to protest the war and requested that Israel not to send back to Amman its ambassador, Rogel Rachman, who temporarily left Jordan for security reasons.
Cohen said that leaders with whom he is in contact in the Arab world are not telling him they are considering cutting or downgrading their ties with Israel. “But let’s wait and see, the more the war continues, the more pressure on Israel will grow.”
Cohen said that, in general, the Arab world is looking at what happened on October 7 and this war through the prism of the long-term conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. “If you listen to them, that is what they say: that there is a conflict, and this is a part of it.” He said that in this manner, they agree with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s problematic statement that the October 7 attacks did not happen in a vacuum.
The Arab world, he said, is viewing this as “another round of violence. And I hope they will not reverse our relationship because of a round of violence.”
Asked whether he thought that the war has rendered normalization with Saudi Arabia “dead in the water” at this time, he replied, “a little bit.”
He did not sound overly concerned about the Turkish reaction, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan using vitriolic rhetoric to lambaste Israel at an anti-Israel rally on Saturday. Israel responded to Erdogan’s comments by recalling its remaining diplomats in Turkey for a reassessment of ties.
“This is the usual reaction by Erdogan,” he said. “There is no surprise on that end.”
Cohen dismissed out of hand speculation in some circles that Russia, which hosted a high-level Hamas delegation last week, was somehow involved in the October 7 attack. “I have never had any evidence of Russian involvement with this terror organization. Not today, not ever; I never saw it. I’ve known in the past who is involved with Hamas and who is collaborating, and Russia was not part of it, never.”
As to US President Joe Biden’s strong support for Israel, including the dispatch to the region of two aircraft carrier strike groups, Cohen termed that “very important.”
“This is a super-strong message coming from the superpower,” he said, “and it is a strong message on two layers.”
First, he said, it sends an important message to Israelis that they are not alone. Second, it sends a powerful message to the region that if Israel comes under tremendous threat, the US will be there to help the Jewish state survive. Cohen added that while this is not the only reason Hezbollah and Iran have not ignited a full-blown war in the north, it is part of the reason.
Nevertheless, he said, “We have to be super ready in the north to make sure that they do understand that it would be devastating for them to enter the war, and that [if they do enter the war], there will be a repeat of the destruction in Beirut, and Dahieh [the Beirut neighborhood that headquartered Hezbollah in 2006], and all other important facilities in Lebanon that happened during the Second Lebanon War.”
Zvika Klein contributed to this report.