Israel should hunt down any Iranian whose “filthy hands” were involved with the Simchat Torah massacre, former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said Tuesday.
“I think we have to find any and every single Iranian from the Ministry of Intelligence, from the army, from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps whose filthy hands were on the [October 7] operation directly and indirectly and pursue them,” he told The Jerusalem Post.
“This is something that the Mossad and others should do immediately,” he said.
According to foreign reports, Israel carried out several interventions inside Iran aimed at setting back its nuclear program during Cohen’s tenure as head of the Mossad from 2016 to 2021.
Asked if Israel should be doing more of that now in light of the October 7 atrocities, he replied, “Absolutely, yes.”
Cohen said he agreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assessment at a press conference on Saturday night that the Iranians had not “micro-planned” the attack.
Nevertheless, Iran is “all over Hamas,” he added. “They recruit the people, they train the people, they support them financially, they support them with ammunition and armaments, they transfer technology to Hamas people so they can locally produce rockets, precision-guided kits, and rockets and missiles.”
Cohen said while he did not know whether the Iranians had prior knowledge of the attack, they were updated after it took place.
“After the attack, Iran was updated, and, of course, they are very happy this is what happened,” he said.
Israel has no choice but to use Qatar to talk with Hamas about hostages
Regarding the 240 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, Cohen – who reportedly paid a clandestine visit to Qatar over the weekend with Mossad Director David Barnea – said Israel has no choice but to use Qatar as a go-between with Hamas in talks regarding the release of the hostages.
“There is no alternative,” he said, responding to criticism about dealing with Qatar, which has provided longtime financial and diplomatic support to Hamas. “They are the only ones on Earth who could speak to Hamas,” he added.
“This is not something we can choose,” Cohen said. “We can’t choose who will be the negotiator… this is not our choice.”
The full interview with Cohen will appear in Friday’s Post.