Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen spoke to Channel 12 on Thursday and revealed never before exposed details of a Mossad operation in Iran, while arguing that his personal connection to outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be problematic in the future.

Cohen spoke about the Mossad operation to obtain documents from the Iranian nuclear archive that was later revealed by Netanyahu in a dramatic presentation on the findings for both Israelis and the international community. The operation, according to Cohen, was conducted over a period of two years and included some 20 agents, none of whom were Israelis.
Prior to the operation, Mossad built an exact replica of the building storing the documents in Iran, where agents trained for the operation.

"We defined that we have seven hours to perform [the operation]... In the morning, trucks, guards, and workers arrive, and there's a crowd and you can't just jump over fences and break through walls," Cohen described. "Only when they broke into the formidable safes and began to go through the images and Farsi descriptions, did we realize that we have what we wanted on the Iranian military nuclear program."

On April 30, 2018, three months after the operation, Netanyahu convened a press conference, conducted in English, in which he revealed the cache of documents taken by Mossad, which included some 100 disks and binders with thousands of documents on the nuclear program. The rationale of the reveal was also based on sending a message to Iran that the Mossad is capable of infiltrating highly sensitive and secret locations in the country.

Cohen further remarked on another topic, Gaza, and the transferring of Qatari money to Hamas leaders.
"I made a mistake in transferring Qatari money to the Gaza Strip," Cohen said. He changed his mind following the recent flare-up in hostilities between Hamas and Israel in May.
"I admit that I wholeheartedly believed that the people of the Gaza Strip would get used to a little more comfort that would greatly improve their civilian system, [and] not be used for military purposes. I thought their lives would be better and motivations for crises and wars diminished. And I was probably wrong. I was wrong," Cohen admitted.