MOSSAD CHIEF: THERE MAY BE A ONE-TIME CHANCE TO BRING REGIONAL PEACE

One day after his predecessor Tamir Pardo said that the possibility of peace is disappearing, Mossad Director Yossi Cohen said that Israel may currently have a one-time chance to bring regional peace.

In maybe his longest public speech since taking over the organization in March 2016, he said that the Mossad does not just defend Israel’s security, but also takes big initiatives in the diplomatic arena.

Cohen took credit for moving Oman toward having an Israeli diplomat officially working with it following extensive clandestine meetings with the Mossad.

He also said that many moderate Sunni Arab countries besides Jordan and Egypt, who have peace deals with Israel, now have wide-ranging quiet relations with Israel both in combating Iran and other areas of common interest.

Due to Israel’s unusually positive relations with both the US and Russia and these other converging trends, Cohen conveyed an optimistic view of the future between Israel and its neighbors.

Discussing the security challenges Israel faces from Iran and others, Cohen announced that the two women and four men who led the operation to steal secret Iranian nuclear archive material in January 2018 will receive an award tomorrow at President Reuven Rivlin’s residence.

He said that in James Bond movies, one person saves the world, but that “In the real world, many Mossad operatives,” including technology experts, engineers for getting open Iran’s safes, cyber agents and operations staff all worked together “to expose the lies of Iran’s leaders, proof Iran tried to get a nuclear weapon,” said Cohen.

The mission to retrieve the archive material “showed the impossible was possible, and the unbelievable doable.”

The Mossad chief said that the Iran operation “changed the way the world viewed Iran” and the nuclear standoff. Cohen also hinted that there is more to reveal from the nuclear files which were taken from Iran.

Cohen said that Iranian claims that enriching uranium is just for medical research or energy are “flat out lies,” stating that the Iran deal was a bad deal. “Only clear determination to stop it from getting a nuclear can stop it.”

He illustrated his point by pointing out that Iran is “obsessive” about ballistic missile developments and that the nuclear deal has an end date which permits Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

The intelligence head also confirmed that Iran was behind the oil tanker attacks and strikes on Saudi Arabian airports and US facilities in Iraq.

Iran has also supported terror in the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey and France, according to Cohen. The Islamic Republic also trained 300 fighters in Syria and Iraq to pursue its interests in central Africa.

Cohen also pointed out Iran’s support of the Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist organizations, noting it has given them $100 million in the last year. “It is a main regional terror sponsor,” he said.

He added that Iran was attempting to get advanced precision missiles into Syria for Hezbollah to strike Israel.

The Mossad stops attempts by Hamas to incite terror in the West Bank and Gaza and to get advanced weapons. “Hamas has a choice: keep things quiet so its people can flourish in calm or fight wars,” he said.

The intelligence organization also stops attempts to harm Jews all over the world and has thwarted attacks on airlines around the world.

Cohen added that the Mossad helped return the remains of IDF soldier Zechariah Baumel to Israel and is working on returning the remains of Eli Cohen and other Israelis whose bodies are being held outside the country.

• Hezbollah
• Iran
• Mossad
• yossi cohen

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