Ex-Mossad chief, behind ICJ blackmail campaign, brags Israel has installed a global sabotage network – Middle East Monitor

In a shocking admission, former Mossad director Yossi Cohen has openly boasted that Israel has deployed a global sabotage and espionage network which uses “booby-trapped and spy-manipulated equipment”. The method, denounced as terrorism by ex-CIA chief  Leon Panetta, was used to target Hezbollah and now, according to Cohen, is embedded in “all the countries you can imagine.”

In a video that’s now circulating on social media, Cohen is seen speaking on The Brink podcast hosted by Jake Wallis Simons, editor of The Jewish Chronicle. The former Mossad director,  who led a blackmail campaign against ICJ judges,  detailed the covert  programme Israel has planted across the globe.  He claimed personal credit for inventing the “pager method” during his tenure at Mossad’s Special Operations division between 2002 and 2004.

“You know how many treated equipment we have in these countries? Not only booby-trapped, but spy-manipulated… in all countries you can imagine,” Cohen told Simons, describing what appears to be a far-reaching system of compromised commercial hardware used to gather intelligence or, in some cases, cause physical harm.

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The technique, Cohen said, originated with the weaponisation of communications equipment used by Hezbollah fighters, specifically pagers rigged to function as remote surveillance tools or explosive devices. “If adversaries are purchasing equipment, Israel should intervene by embedding itself into their supply chain and exploiting it,” he explained, adding that the concept was refined and scaled globally after being tested during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

The former intelligence chief further admitted that Israel’s sabotage apparatus had not been fully applied to Gaza, calling this a “critical shortfall” in the lead-up to the Hamas-led offensive on 7 October 2023. “Not Gaza. Not enough,” he said, arguing that Mossad had repeatedly warned of this vulnerability, only to be ignored by Shin Bet and the IDF. 

While Cohen’s remarks appear to confirm longstanding suspicions by governments and cybersecurity analysts that Israeli firms and agencies have used technology as a Trojan horse, the interview also raises troubling questions about accountability, legality and the potential scale of the operations.

Critics have long warned that Israeli surveillance and weapons technology—often marketed through private firms with close ties to Mossad and Unit 8200—poses a threat to international security. Cohen’s boast now appears to offer direct confirmation that such concerns are well-founded.

Last month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that “anyone with a cell phone owns a ‘piece of Israel’”. His remarks were widely viewed as an admission about Israel’s global sabotage and spy network.

READ: New Israel spyware targets journalists, politicians in several countries, report finds