Yossi Cohen, former head of Israel’s intelligence company Mossad and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s “unofficial messenger,” threatened Fatou Bensouda, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), throughout a collection of covert conferences, pressuring her to desert investigations into Israeli warfare crimes within the occupied Palestinian territories, a well known British day by day mentioned in its investigative report printed on Tuesday.
“Yossi Cohen’s covert contacts with the ICC’s then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, took place in the years leading up to her decision to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories,” The Guardian mentioned in its report.
That investigation, which started in 2021, culminated final week when Karim Khan, Bensouda’s successor, introduced that he was looking for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for the nation’s actions throughout the Gaza warfare.
The prosecutor’s resolution to use to the ICC’s pretrial chamber for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in addition to three Hamas leaders, is one thing Israel’s navy and political institution has lengthy feared, the day by day mentioned.
“Cohen’s personal involvement in the operation against the ICC took place when he was the director of the Mossad,” it mentioned.
According to the report, a senior Israeli official’s actions have been sanctioned “at a high level” and justified in mild of the court docket’s perceived risk of prosecuting navy personnel.
The Mossad’s goal was “to compromise the prosecutor or enlist her as someone who would cooperate with Israel’s demands,” the UK’s day by day mentioned within the report, citing one other Israeli supply acquainted with the threats towards Bensouda.
Cohen, described as one of many prime minister’s “closest allies” and “unofficial messenger,” is alleged to have led Mossad’s function in Israel’s practically decade-long effort to undermine the ICC.
According to 4 sources cited by The Guardian, Bensouda knowledgeable a choose group of senior ICC officers about Cohen’s efforts to exert strain on her, elevating considerations in regards to the “threatening nature of his behaviour.”
Cohen is accused of claiming to the ICC prosecutor: “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.”
“The Mossad also took a keen interest in Bensouda’s family members and obtained transcripts of secret recordings of her husband, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation. Israeli officials then attempted to use the material to discredit the prosecutor,” the report mentioned.
The ICC case goes again to 2015, when Bensouda started a preliminary examination into the scenario in Palestine, assessing allegations of crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
Source: www.anews.com.tr