Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen used a ceremony in Jerusalem on Monday evening to deliver a blunt warning on Iran, saying the Islamic Republic would “continue to lie” and that no agreement or ceasefire would change its fundamental ambitions.
Speaking on Remembrance Day, Cohen said that despite Israel’s recent military and intelligence achievements, “our battle for the State of Israel is not over” and that Israelis would continue to be called on for “sacrifice and boundless Zionism.”
The former Mossad director tied his warning directly to Israel’s long confrontation with Iran and its regional proxies.
“During both Operation Rising Lion and Operation Roaring Lion, the IDF and the intelligence community showed Israel’s military and intelligence strength,” Cohen said, according to the speech text. “But we must not deceive ourselves: the Iranians will continue to lie, and we must not trust them or rest on our laurels. No agreement or ceasefire will change their fundamental ambitions.”
That language marked the clearest news line in what was otherwise a memorial address focused on bereaved families and the human cost of Israel’s wars.
Cohen also stressed the close operational bond between the IDF and Mossad, saying that the public often saw only the headlines while the real work was carried out in “vast and quiet battles far beyond our borders.”
“I was there when Mossad operatives and IDF soldiers acted as one body, shoulder to shoulder,” he said.
He said those joint efforts had focused on “the containment campaign against Iran,” efforts to stop its nuclear ambitions, and the struggle against terror proxies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
Bereaved families are Israel's backbone, fmr. Mossad chief says
Much of Cohen’s speech centered on bereaved families, whom he described as “the backbone of the State of Israel.”
“We understand that our war does not end with this ceremony,” he said. “Your war is a daily one, in the struggle to keep smiling, to build, and to be rebuilt from the fragments.”
He also said the state had a duty to ensure that bereaved families’ rights were “anchored and protected,” calling that “the very least the state owes you in the face of your immense sacrifice.”