In a sensational admission, former director of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, Yossi Cohen, announced the creation by Israel of a global network of sabotage and intelligence operations that uses, according to him, booby-trapped and spy-controlled equipment. This method, characterized by former CIA Director Leon Panetta as a form of terrorism, was initially used against Hezbollah and is now, Cohen claims, deployed in every conceivable country.
In footage circulating on social media, Cohen, who was previously accused of organizing a blackmail campaign against judges of the UN International Court of Justice, detailed the covert program implemented by Israel on a global scale. He stated that he personally developed the “paging method” while serving in Mossad’s special operations division between 2002 and 2004. According to Cohen, the technology emerged from the adaptation of communication devices used by Hezbollah militants, specifically pagers, which were retrofitted for remote surveillance or use as explosive devices. “If adversaries procure equipment, Israel must intervene by infiltrating their supply chain and exploiting it,” he explained, adding that this concept was refined and widely deployed after being tested during the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Cohen’s statements appear to confirm long-standing suspicions by governments and cybersecurity experts that Israeli companies and agencies have used technological equipment as a Trojan horse for conducting covert operations. This raises serious questions about accountability, legality, and the potential scale of the operations being carried out.