Mossad issued a statement and rejected the claim made by US media that Israel’s spy Agency was indeed behind the ongoing mass protests against Netanyahu and his government.
Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, issued a statement this week and categorically denied any kind of secret involvement whatsoever in the recent mass protests in Israel against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The statement wrote that whatever that is said about the matter regarding the role of Mossad in the protests is “false and completely baseless”.
The statement added that “Mossad and its officials have not encouraged Mossad employees to take such actions against the government and in general to participate in any political activity and are loyal to the values that have been in place since the establishment of this institution.”
Mossad’s statement was issued a day after American media, the Washington Post and the New York Times, said in two separate reports that the Israeli spy agency was secretly encouraging people and military personnel and even its own officials, to take to the streets and protests against Netanyahu and his controversial policies.
“The leadership of the spy agency advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest the new Israeli Government’s proposed judicial reforms, including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli Government, according to signals intelligence,” the New York Times and the Washington Post reported, citing one of the leaked Pentagon document that was dated for early March this year.
Which one is lying, Mossad or US media?
It was back on Friday that in an embarrassment for the US intelligence organizations, a good many US intelligence secret documents were posted on social media. The leaked documents covered everything from US support for Ukraine to information about key US allies like Israel. Till now, US officials have not been able to say how the documents found their way online and who did it.
But among the leaked documents, some top-secret papers attributed to the US Department of Defense can be seen, which have identified Mossad leaders as the designers and instigators of the current protests against Netanyahu and his government.
One document, which date back to “early to mid-February,” state that Mossad leadership “supported Mossad officials and Israeli citizens in protesting the judicial reforms proposed by Israel’s new cabinet, including several outspoken calls condemning Netanyahu and his cabinet.
And now, with two completely contradictory stories about the matter, one from US famous media outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, and the other from Mossad itself, only time will tell who is telling the truth and who is not.
Shouldn’t Netanyahu be blamed for Mossad’s potential missed-up?
According to the Israeli media, Mossad head David Barnea, after consulting with the organization’s legal advisor, agreed to the participation of the organization’s forces in opposition protests, as ordinary citizens and not as Mossad forces. However, the leaked documents suggest that Mossad had a way greater role in shaping and continuing the anti-Netanyahu rallies across Israel.
After all, Israel has never seen such mass protests for so many days, the drawback of which could topple the prime minister and lead to another election in Israel.
But maybe Netanyahu could have predicted such a betrayal from Mossad yet he was blind to the signals. To read between the lines, in the last three and a half months, a large number of former Mossad heads and senior officials have given public warnings about the “serious risks” for Israel if the judicial changes are approved, none of which has been properly responded by Netanyahu,
After 14 weeks, protests still continue anyway
Regardless of whether Mossad supported the protests or not, it is for nearly 14 weeks that people of Israel, as well as retired and working military and Mossad officials, have been protesting in their tens of thousands against Netanyahu and his far-right cabinet. The mass protests erupted when back in January, the ruling government pushed for broad judicial reform.
The effort has been spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Yariv Levin and the Chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, Simcha Rothman. It seeks to curb the judiciary’s influence over lawmaking and public policy by limiting the Supreme Court’s power to exercise judicial review, granting the government control over judicial appointments, and limiting the authority of its legal advisors. The protests have been taking place since 7 January every Saturday in cities across Israel, as well as in various locations during weekdays.
