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The Guardian newspaper revealed that the former head of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency, threatened the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a series of secret meetings, pressuring her to abandon a war crimes investigation against Israel.
According to sources cited by the investigation published by the English newspaper Tuesday, former Mossad head Yossi Cohen reportedly investigated Fatou Bensouda's family members, even obtaining secret recordings of her Moroccan husband. It is worth mentioning that the former ICC prosecutor is married to Moroccan-Gambian businessman Philip Bensouda.
The threats against Bensouda and her family occurred during the period leading to her decision to launch a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine. That investigation, launched in 2021, came to a head last week when Bensouda's successor, Karim Khan, announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the country's conduct in its war in Gaza.
Another Israeli source familiar with the operation against Bensouda said Mossad's goal was to jeopardize the prosecutor or recruit her as someone who would cooperate with Israel's demands.
Threatening, stalking and intimidating
A third source familiar with the operation said Cohen was Netanyahu's «unofficial messenger». Four sources confirmed to the newspaper that Bensouda briefed a small group of senior ICC officials on Cohen's attempts to influence her, amid concerns about the persistent and increasingly threatening nature of his behavior.
Three of the sources were familiar with Bensouda's formal disclosures to the ICC on the matter. They said they revealed that Cohen pressured her on several occasions not to proceed with a criminal investigation into Palestine before the ICC.
«You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family», Cohen allegedly told Bensouda, according to accounts of ICC officials.
One person familiar with Cohen's activities said he used «despicable tactics» against Bensouda as part of an ultimately unsuccessful effort to intimidate and influence her. Cohen is even said to has shown Bensouda photos of her husband, taken when the couple were visiting London.
It is worth mentioning that current chief prosecutor Karim Khan has warned in recent days that he will not hesitate to prosecute «attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence» ICC officials.
According to legal experts and former ICC officials, cited by the Guardian, Mossad's efforts to threaten or pressure Bensouda could amount to crimes against the administration of justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court.
