Assuming his new role as head of Israel’s famous intelligence agency, Yossi Cohen warned that the dangers Israel faces today have become more, and not less, ominous.
By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News
PM Netanyahu (C), outgoing Mossad director Tamir Pardo (R) and incoming director Yossi Cohen . (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Incoming Mossad Director Yossi Cohen warned that the nuclear deal with Iran has intensified, not diminished, the threat the Islamic country poses to the world.
Speaking at his swearing-in ceremony as head of Israel’s intelligence agency on Wednesday, the spy master said that the Iranian threat remains a “major challenge, which despite the nuclear deal, and in my opinion because of it, has become more significant. Iran continues to call for Israel’s destruction, develops its military capabilities and deepens its grasp on our region. Its terrorist affiliates are a means to realize these goals. ”
Israel fears that the thawed billions Iran will receive as part of the controversial nuclear deal signed in July between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 Powers will be diverted, at least partially, to develop its web of global terror cells, and especially in the Middle East and Africa.
Iran is already heavily invested in fighting in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and several African countries.
Likewise, Israel fears that the Iranians will do anything in their power to evade abiding by the deal’s requirements, and will ultimately develop nuclear weapons.
Cohen also warned that “the State of Israel lies at the center of the quake that has been affecting the Middle East in recent years. The fanaticism of radical Islam washes over countries and causes them to collapse. The inter-religious war within Islam, and the intensification of terror organizations around us, obligates the Mossad to study the threats in depth and thwart them and contribute to national security.”
He expressed confidence in the Mossad’s abilities to contend with these threats.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s “work of security knows no rest. Israel is the most challenged country on Earth, a bastion of democracy in the heart of a region strewn with dangers. The first order in ensuring the existence of a living creature, of any living organism, is the identification of dangers in time and repelling them in time.”
The Jewish people’s endless facing of existential threats “is the essence of the story of our people over the generations, especially in the years of our national revival. Our strength depends on the willingness of the best of our sons and daughters to bear the yoke of responsibility in order to ensure the life, freedom and prosperity of the nation.”
He expressed confidence in the Mossad and its new chief, and their ability to head off these developing threats.