Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen leaked state secrets, including info on the spy agency’s operations, to a flight attendant with whom he was having an affair, as well as her husband, according to an Israeli television report.
The alleged affair began in late 2018 and saw Cohen boast to the couple about a variety of secret details relating to Mossad activities. He also disclosed information about his travels and management style, a Channel 13 program reported.
In the program, which will be broadcast on Tuesday, the attendant’s husband, Guy Shiker, said Cohen would refer to the unidentified woman as “my princess” and “my beauty” in messages. “You love my wife, she loves you, you’re destroying a family right now,” Shiker added.
He told lots of stories, including about Mossad. He’s a blabbermouth. He started telling me that Mossad was ‘sitting’ on a doctor of a well-known Arab leader.
Shiker, a prominent financier, told the program that Cohen bragged about how he apparently “fired six [top Mossad officials with whom he was friends]... without mercy” within “10 days” of being appointed as the country’s top spy “because they weren’t loyal to the system” and “weren’t good.”
In response, Cohen countered that he never revealed any security secrets or gave out any information he was not supposed to share. It is unclear as yet whether he denies or acknowledges that there had been an affair.
The network had reported in June that the country’s attorney general was reviewing a complaint filed with the Justice Ministry against Cohen on suspicion of sharing classified information with a flight attendant with whom he was in close personal contact.
At the time, Cohen had denied the allegations outright, telling the channel there was “no flight attendant, there is no close relationship [and that] the attorney general has not contacted me” about the complaint.
The former spymaster’s apparent loose tongue had previously seen him criticized for an interview in which he confirmed that Mossad had its sights on assassinating Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and detailed how the agency blew up Iran’s centrifuge facility at Natanz.
Since leaving the agency in June, Cohen has also faced several accusations of ethics violations and has admitted to accepting a gift illegally.