Israeli journalist threatened over Mossad report on ICC intimidation
5 Min Read
A Haaretz writer was threatened with "consequences" if he reported on the Mossad chief's attempts to intimidate an ex-prosecutor.
-
Benjamin Netanyahu with Yossi Cohen, whose alleged attempts to influence Fatou Bensouda were being investigated by the Haaretz journalist Gur Megiddo. (AFP)
An investigative reporter with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, anonymous top security officials threatened him with repercussions if he reported on attempts by the former chief of the Mossad to intimidate the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The investigative reporter Gur Megiddo related, in an article published on Thursday, how two years ago security officials blocked an attempt by the paper to report efforts by the then Mossad chief, Yossi Cohen, to threaten the then ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.
Haaretz published an article on Wednesday with blacked-out words and phrases to highlight the extent of redactions, amid growing concern over "Israel’s" censorship regime,
According to The Guardian, an Israeli source briefed on the operation against Bensouda claimed that the Mossad meant to compromise the former prosecutor or enlist her as someone who would work with "Israel’s" demands, while another source said Cohen was serving as Netanyahu’s "unofficial messenger".
A larger investigation by Israeli publications +972 and Local Call showed how "Israel" used its intelligence agencies to watch, hack, pressure, slander, and reportedly threaten top officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in an attempt to derail its inquiry into Palestine.
Megiddo stated how he was asked to meet with two authorities and threatened with significant penalties when they discovered he attempted to call Bensouda to discuss Cohen's efforts to persuade her.
Megiddo had been looking into the Mossad chief's travels to the Democratic Republic of the Congo when he was seeking the assistance of Congolese President Joseph Kabila in efforts to put pressure on Bensouda.
The journalist wrote that when he attempted to contact the former prosecutor through a third party in 2022 once he wanted to publish the story, a senior Israeli official contacted him to meet.
During the meeting, he was told he would "suffer the consequences and get to know the interrogation rooms of the Israeli security authorities from the inside."
“In the end, it was made clear to me that even sharing the information ‘with my friends abroad’, referring to foreign media outlets, would lead to the same results.”
The Israeli occupation has increased its crackdown on journalistic freedom recently. The Israeli press freedom director for the Union of Journalists in the occupation expressed on CBC this week that the extreme right government has "from the beginning of its term … put the freedom of [the] press as a target.”
"Israel's" military censor has the power to censor or completely or partially redact articles as is in line with Israeli law.
Records from Israeli publications indicate that the military censored the publication of 613 articles in 2023, a record yearly total since +972 began collecting data in 2011.
The censor also targeted portions of an additional 2,703 articles, the greatest number since 2014. Overall, the military stopped information from becoming public an average of nine times every day, in what Haggai Matar, executive director of +972, called a government "hostile to journalism."
Netanyahu and his government, according to Matar, are concerned with "influencing what the Israeli public sees.”
'Israel' goes rogue by attacking, undermining ICC, says The Guardian
"Israel's" increasing international isolation, stemming from outrage over the extensive unlawful killings of over 36,171 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, is set to escalate further, according to a new opinion piece by Simon Tisdall, the Observer’s foreign affairs commentator, published by The Guardian on Wednesday.
This follows fresh, comprehensive, and credible accusations implicating senior politicians and intelligence agencies in a conspiracy, aided by the Trump administration, to surveil, undermine, and intimidate the operations and personnel of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The individuals purportedly singled out include the former chief prosecutor of the court, Fatou Bensouda, as well as the current one, Karim Khan, who may still be under surveillance.
In Tisdall's view, if such actions are indeed taking place, they must be halted without delay.
He further confirmed, "Once again, the world is confronted by dismaying evidence that the state of Israel under the destructive leadership of its rightwing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has gone rogue."
"Once again, Netanyahu has crossed a line. Once again, his contempt for global opinion, for the values of the Western democracies which too unquestioningly sustain and arm his country, and for the most basic principles of international law is on galling display. For all those who have previously supported Israel....... this is, once again, a deep disappointment," he stressed.
