Chief of Israeli Mossad, Yossi Cohen, acknowledged on Thursday the assassination of Hamas leaders abroad, Mishpacha, an ultra-Orthodox Israeli newspaper reported.
In an interview with Mishpacha, reported by the Times of Israel, Cohen stated:
“There are more than a few assassinations, but the enemy [Hamas] has changed tactics,” noting that Hamas “is not quick to attribute assassination to us, for its own reasons.”
Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said a potential Israeli assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, the head of the elite Quds Force in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was “not impossible.” https://t.co/Q6CyTeIWin
— Dr. Reza Parchizadeh (@rezaparchizadeh) October 11, 2019
However, he added,
“If there is one target that we eliminate without hesitation, it is Hamas officials abroad, from local agents to those who manage acquisitions of weapons pointed towards Israel.”
The Israeli official claimed that assassinations in such cases are not vengeful acts, but simply the removal of threats.
Mossad chief Yossi Cohen rejected Iranian claims of thwarting an assassination of Qassim Soleimani, but said that it was not impossible.
“With all due respect to his bluster, he (Soleimani) hasn’t necessarily committed the mistake yet that would place him on the prestigious list pic.twitter.com/gj2Tt4Vlvy
— Graphenes (@Graphenes1) October 12, 2019
When asked about Iranian military official Qasim Soleimani’s claim that Israel targeted him along with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in 2006, Cohen confirmed:
“With all due respect to his bluster, he has not necessarily committed the mistake yet that would place him on the prestigious list of Mossad’s assassination targets.”
Israeli Mossad recognises assassination of Palestinians abroad https://t.co/uxYEpljObb pic.twitter.com/E4m1zXo8Ml
— KhamakarPress (@KhamakarPress) October 12, 2019
Cohen added “he [Soleimani] knows very well that his assassination is not impossible. His actions are identified and felt everywhere… there is no doubt the infrastructure he built presents a serious challenge for Israel.”
#Mossad head Yossi Cohen also said #Israel could eliminate Lebanon's #Hezbollah leaderhttps://t.co/pWkEmpBFIo
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 11, 2019
On Iran, he stated “Israel is not interested in conflict with Iran… Israel has but one interest: to prevent any option of Iran achieving military nuclear capability.”
“We don’t want the regime to collapse, we don’t want revenge against nuclear scientists or to bomb bases in Tehran. In the end, Israel wants to bring Iran to the table and then bring about a deal that locks away any option of military nuclear capability.”
He stressed that Iran is currently “absolutely not” an existential threat but “a security challenge,” but that this would change if it acquired nuclear weapons.
(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)
