ISTANBUL

In an attempt to prevent the publication of a story about a Mossad threat to the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a senior Israeli official threatened a Haaretz reporter, the daily said. 

The incident took place in 2022 when the Israeli daily aimed to publish details about former Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen's alleged threats to then ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to halt an investigation into Israel.

The investigation, initiated in 2021, was based on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestinian territories.

As reporter Gur Megiddo was preparing to publish the story two years ago, he received a call from a senior Israeli security official asking to meet the next day.

Upon arriving at the official’s office, Megiddo was required to leave his mobile phone to prevent recording. Inside, another senior official from a different security agency was also present.

Megiddo claimed that the Israeli official threatened him to prevent the publication of the story, saying: "If I published the story I would suffer the consequences and get to know the interrogation rooms of the Israeli security authorities from the inside."

The official also threatened Megiddo with the same consequences if he shared the information with foreign media.

"Yossi Cohen’s covert contacts with 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 the occupied Palestinian territories," The Guardian said in its investigative report published on Tuesday.

Cohen is accused of saying to the ICC prosecutor: "You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family," the report added.

That investigation, which began in 2021, culminated last week when Karim Khan, Bensouda's successor, announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for the country's actions during the Gaza war.

"The Mossad also took a keen interest in Bensouda’s family members and obtained transcripts of secret recordings of her husband, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation. Israeli officials then attempted to use the material to discredit the prosecutor," the report said.

The ICC case goes back to 2015, when Bensouda began a preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine, assessing allegations of crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.​​​​​​​