Israeli officials have denied reports that the head of the country's internal security service spied on behalf of the prime minister, the Mossad intelligence director and the army chief. The denials were motivated by allegations made last Thursday, when the latest episode of the investigative news program Uvda (Fact) aired on Israeli television channel 12. According to the program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had demanded that the personal phones of senior Israeli security officials, including those of Mossad and army leaders, be intercepted for security reasons.
The investigative news program reported on May 31 that the "unprecedented" request has its roots in a "big secret program" launched by the Israeli government in 2012. The program had required a major transformation of budget, personnel and resources. of the country's intelligence. Although numerous individuals from almost all aspects of the Israeli intelligence community had been briefed on the project, the Israeli prime minister was concerned about the leaks to the media. He therefore kept his cabinet in the dark about the program, and did not consult with the Knesset, or with members of the Knesset Subcommittee on Intelligence and Secret Services. Information under the Israeli Intelligence Operations Act.
Uvda also claims that in 2013 Netanyahu convened an extraordinary meeting of senior officials, which included the participation of the attorney general, the head of Shin Bet (the Israeli national security service) and others.
During that meeting, according to Uvda, Netanyahu approached Yora Cohen, the then director of Shin Bet, and asked him to "monitor the partners of the secret project". When asked what he meant, Netanyahu allegedly said that the directors of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Mossad needed to be screened for possible unauthorized infiltration to the media. Two names mentioned during that meeting, according to Uvda: Tamir Pardo, head of the Mossad, and Benny Gantz, chief of staff of the IDF. When Cohen received Netanyahu's request, senior defense ministry officials "were shocked and would have rejected the request."
On Sunday, Cohen took an unusual step and released a denial of Uvda's allegations, calling "media reports" about the prime minister who had instructed him to "specifically intercept Gantz and Pardo [...] not true." The prime minister's office also denied the Uvda report, describing it in a statement as "absolutely unfounded". The statement went on to state that Uvda's allegations represented "a total distortion of the systemic efforts being made from time to time to safeguard sensitive information relating to Israel's security." Also on Sunday, Prime Minister Netanyahu directly criticized Pardo's comments on the same program, which the Israeli leader considered harmful to the reputation of the Mossad. Pardo told Uvda that "the fun part" of working for the Mossad was that the agency is "basically a licensed criminal syndicate." Netanyahu made an exception to those comments on Sunday, saying that “the Mossad is not a criminal organization. It is a superb organization that does sacred work in the fight against terrorism and other threats to the state of Israel.