David Barnea will be the next head of the Mossad clandestine intelligence agency, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday.
The announcement was made after Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit gave the go-ahead to the appointment of Barnea, who currently serves as the agency's deputy chief.
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Incoming Mossad head David Barnea, (L) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) and outgoing Mossad chief Yossi Cohen
(Photo: GPO)
Barnea, 56, will take up his new role on June 1 and will replace outgoing spymaster Yossi Cohen, who is retiring from the organization after 38 years.
Barnea, a father of four, joined Mossad in 1996 for an intelligence collection officers course and was assigned to the agency's operations division. Later, Barnea was assigned as the commander of several of Mossad’s operations units, both domestic and abroad.
Between the years 2013–2019, Barnea led Mossad’s Tzomet Division, which operates the organization’s officers and agent network around the world. During that time, the division under his wing won much acclaim.
Barnea has been serving as Mossad deputy chief since 2019.
"He who dares, wins,” said Netanyahu in his announcement. "Someone has to dare to lead… each operation is bolder, more creative and insane than the one before it… we are going to open cinemas in a few days, but there is not a single action film that could compare to what Mossad does."
The outgoing Mossad director, Yossi Cohen, also greeted his successor at the ceremony.
"Mossad's daily routine is war, a clandestine war. We carry out countless operations all the time, everywhere," Cohen said. "These operations provide Israel with vital intelligence, they thwart unconventional weapons, acts of terrorism and espionage. They break new grounds in peace and regional cooperation."
Barnea’s appointment came across several legal hurdles over the past year, mainly due to Israel’s turbulent political situation.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and outgoing Mossad chief Yossi Cohen
(Photo: GPO)
Netanyahu announced his intention to appoint Barnea as Israel’s new spymaster in late 2020, mere months before the March 2021 election. Mandelblit, however, said that Netanyahu, who was heading an interim government at the time, was not authorized to appoint a permanent Mossad chief.
According to the Attorney General's Office, Mandelblit eventually decided to greenlight the appointment notwithstanding Israel still has no permanent government.
“The attorney general came to the conclusion that there is no legal impediment to appoint Barnea to the position of head of the Mossad, even if it would have been legally preferable to appoint him an interim Mossad,” the Attorney General's Office wrote in a statement.