2021 hat der Strafgerichtshof Ermittlungen gegen Israel zu mutmaßlichen Kriegsverbrechen in den Palästinensergebieten aufgenommen. Der damalige Mossad-Chef soll versucht haben, das aggressiv zu verhindern.
Der Chefankläger des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofes hat einen Haftbefehl gegen den israelischen Premierminister Benjamin Netanyahu wegen Kriegsverbrechen beantragt. Die Entscheidung beruht auch auf seit 2021 laufenden Ermittlungen seiner Vorgängerin Fatou Bensouda. Nun berichtet der britische »Guardian«, Bensouda sei vor Beginn ihrer Ermittlungen vom damaligen Mossad-Chef Yossi Cohen bedrängt worden, die Ermittlungen einzustellen.
Der »Guardian« beruft sich auf mehrere Quellen beim Strafgerichtshof, denen sich Bensouda anvertraut habe. Demnach habe Cohen Druck auf die Chefanklägerin ausüben wollen. Er sei »zunehmend energischer« aufgetreten, Bensouda sei alsbald besorgt gewesen über »das einschüchternde Verhalten«. Eine Quelle spricht davon, der Mossad-Chef habe damals als »inoffizielles Sprachrohr« von Netanyahu fungiert.
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Der angesprochene Artikel im Guardian ist wesentlich ausführlicher:
Mossad director Yossi Cohen personally involved in secret plot to pressure Fatou Bensouda to drop Palestine investigation, sources say
The former head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, allegedly threatened a chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in a series of secret meetings in which he tried to pressure her into abandoning a war crimes investigation, the Guardian can reveal.
Yossi Cohen’s covert contacts with the ICC’s then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, took place in the years leading up to her decision to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories.
That investigation, launched in 2021, culminated last week when Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over the country’s conduct in its war in Gaza.
The prosecutor’s decision to apply to the ICC’s pre-trial chamber for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, alongside three Hamas leaders, is an outcome Israel’s military and political establishment has long feared.
Cohen’s personal involvement in the operation against the ICC took place when he was the director of the Mossad. His activities were authorised at a high level and justified on the basis the court posed a threat of prosecutions against military personnel, according to a senior Israeli official.
Another Israeli source briefed on the operation against Bensouda said the Mossad’s objective was to compromise the prosecutor or enlist her as someone who would cooperate with Israel’s demands.
A third source familiar with the operation said Cohen was acting as Netanyahu’s “unofficial messenger”.
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Revealed: Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry | The Guardian
