#ICC / Israeli Mossad chief threatened ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry
[…] "You don't want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family."
The allegations detailed in the Guardian paint a troubling picture of alleged intimidation tactics and excessive pressure applied by Israeli intelligence against an ICC prosecutor.
Cohen's covert contacts with Bensouda took place over several years leading up to her 2021 decision to open a formal #ICC investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes.
A close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Cohen personally led the #Mossad's efforts as part of a decade-long campaign by Israel to undermine the ICC probe.
The efforts escalated in 2019-2020 with Cohen allegedly showing Bensouda photos of her husband taken covertly and suggesting the ICC probe would hurt her career.
[…] Another Israeli source briefed on the operation against Bensouda said the Mossad’s objective was to compromise the prosecutor or enlist her as someone who would cooperate with Israel’s demands.
[cont’d] Ex-Mossad chief ‘disappointed’ over alleged threats against ICC prosecutor
Upholding the rule of law and complimentarity 🤔 … A little bit more about Israel’s kosher-nostra (originally Eastern European Jewish mobs of North America):
[…] “There are things that spy agencies do not do, […] Things that they won’t do, and that are forbidden for them to do. And this is one of them. I don’t want to think that anyone who works for the organisation in which I served for 36 years, let alone a person who headed it, was involved in the event that was described in the media.”
[cont'd] #ICC intimidation and extortion / Israeli "The Marker" attempted to publish a similar investigation, but was blocked by Israeli security authorities
[...] In May 2022, "The Marker" attempted to publish a similar investigation, but it was blocked by Israeli security authorities. The authorities used emergency powers to prevent the publication, claiming that it would harm national security.
A reminder, the Israeli government has denied the allegations, calling them "baseless and false." However, Israeli sources have confirmed the main findings of the investigation, which raises serious questions about the country's conduct and its attempts to silence critics.
Netanyhu and his rich friends
[...] At the center of the investigation, which has been ongoing for several months, was the question of what the former head of the Mossad did during three visits to Congo in 2019, accompanied by billionaire Dan Gertler, who also participated in the questionable operation, according to sources who spoke to TheMarker. Gertler even put his private plane at Cohen's disposal for his trips to the African country. The answer, from several sources, was this: Gertler and Cohen traveled to meet Kabila as part of an operation aimed at recruiting or pressuring the prosecutor in Bensouda due to the court proceedings related to Israel."
In 2017, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (#OFAC) imposed sanctions on Gertler and several of his companies, citing "hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals" in the #DRC. The sanctions froze Gertler's assets in the US and prohibited American citizens from doing business with him.
The author of the piece, Goor Megido, says that the timing of the publication could not be worse for Israel, coming as it does at a time of heightened international tension and just one week after the ICC's chief prosecutor requested an arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Gallant. It is not unlikely that the prosecutor will add charges of obstruction of justice to the list of allegations against Israel.
Note: Gertler is currently suing The Marker for libel
A relatively rare glimpse into the moral corruption black hole of Israel's leadership, but it's not unique to Netanyahu, as state archives often divulge...