Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 29, 2020

Aug 28, 2020

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with four top officials on Aug. 24 during his quick visit to Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, Defense Minister Benny Gantzand Mossad director Yossi Cohen.

Cohenplayed the most important role in the historic normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Pompeo and Cohen had some loose ends to deal withanda lot of information to exchange before the Israeli delegation leaves for Abu Dhabi on Aug. 31to push ahead with the normalization process. There are also other agreements, most notably with Sudan and Oman, that look like they will be finalized soon.

Ashkenazi may be theminister of foreign affairs, but Cohen is the uncontested architect of the regional peace initiative thatwas revealed this week. The prime minister consults with him on a regular basisand relies on him to get things done. Over the last few years, Cohen made numerous clandestine visits to the Gulf states and workedwith Netanyahu on the tangle of relationships being woven together with pragmatic Arab states. It's allpart of a larger effort to forge an alliance against Iran, especially a nuclear Iran. Cohen accompanied Netanyahu on his historic visit to Oman in November 2018and came under considerable criticism for it from the staff of the Foreign Ministry, whocomplained he was encroaching ontheir territory.

Cohen is not the first Mossad chief to conduct secret missions on behalf of the prime minister. However, hisclandestine and public diplomatic activity has been by far thefarthest-reaching and most important.Cohenis also open about hisambitionto get to the prime minister'soffice after Netanyahu. He plans to do so from within the Likudas leader of the right.

It was Netanyahu himself who first marked Cohen as his heir.According to journalist Tal Shalev on Walla News in 2019, Netanyahu has been saying behind closed doors that there are two peoplehe considers fit to lead the State of Israel: Yossi Cohen and Israeli Ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer. Netanyahu thus dismissed a long line of senior Likud officials, including several veteran ministers likely tocompete for the party leadership as soon as Netanyahu makes his exit.

Dermer is Netanyahus young protg, his confidanteand his closest adviser on diplomatic and political affairs. Cohen, now 59, is a different story. Back in 2015, Netanyahu deliberated long and hard over appointing him asMossad director. It is quite possible that Cohens religious background and right-wing orientation gave Netanyahu the confidenceto deem him trustworthy and loyal. The previous two Mossad chiefs, Meir Dagan and Tamir Pardo, had been too contrarian. In dealing with the Iranian nuclear project, they actually went behind Netanyahu's back.

Netanyahu'schoice of Cohen turned out be a major success. Despite his relativeyouth, Cohen was responsible for several remarkable achievements, chief among them the operation to smuggle Irans nuclear archives to Israel in 2018. The world was shocked bythe audacity of this operation, which Cohen managed personally. He then made the unusual move of giving Netanyahu the green light to go public about it. For it, he was accused at the time of assisting Netanyahu politically.

The Likud would be delighted to add Cohen to its ranks. As one senior official told Al-Monitoron condition of anonymity,if Cohen decides to run to head itafter the Netanyahu era, he will take the party by storm. No one will have a chance against him.

Cohens chances of electionare excellent. His diplomatic and security background give him a real advantage. That he worked alongside Netanyahuand learned politics and statesmanship from him at the highest levels certainly adds to his prestige. Cohen even looks the part. He looks good in his designer suits,earninghim the nickname of the model. He has impressive skills in public speakingand his English is excellent. More importantly, he has natural political skills, a high level of emotional intelligenceand the ability to pick the right people for the job. It was these qualities that helped him recruit a new generation of agents for the Mossad. One senior political official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity,I saw him in a hotel with his family last year. He was at the pooland people came over to congratulate him. He looked them all in the eye and spoke to them. He was absolutely charming. He won them all over.

A year ago, Cohen showed up at the Herzliya Conference to deliver a rare public speech. He revealed that under his leadership, the Mossad had created its own diplomatic-security directorate of sorts toadvance peace in the Middle East. He said, The Mossad has a role in identifying opportunities for peace. In order to boost its influence, we have established a new division, which will work precisely on this.

It was the kind of political speech that one would expect from a prime ministerand not the head of an espionage organization. As he laid out his vision for regional peace, he said, The Mossad was intended to protect Israel from the risk of war, but I believe it has another role, which is no less important. That is to identify opportunities for peace and even more so, to initiate the processes that could advance peace. He went on to say that the current circumstances present a golden opportunity for peace in the Middle East: There are common interests on one hand, and a struggle against rivals like Iran and jihadist terror on the other. These, along with our close relationship with the White Houseand our channels of communications with the Kremlin, come together to create what could be a unique window of opportunity.Cohen revealed, The Mossad had identified what may be the first opportunity in the history of the Middle East to reach the kind of understandingswhich would lead to a comprehensive peace agreement.

Hisremarksa year ago may have seemed a pipe dream then, but over the last few days, they turned out to be an established diplomatic fact. Ever since the primeminister revealed that Israel was on the verge of reaching a peace agreement with the UAE, Cohen has been just about everywhere. He was the first Israeli senior to pay an official visit to Abu Dhabiand if the reports are true, he met with a senior government official in Sudan just a few days later. Over time, Cohens decisive role in forging these historic regional alliances will be revealed. If he does end up gunning for prime minister, it would be the perfect way for him to present himself: a person on the right who makes peace, a man trusted by Netanyahu himselfand a candidate worthy of continuing Netanyahus legacy.

Continued here:

Agreement with UAE reveals Mossad chief's ambitions - Al-Monitor

Category: Ashkenazi
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