During the ceremonial ceremony with Yossi Cohen ending his position as head of the Israeli intelligence and special missions (Mossad) and entering his deputy, David Barnea as his successor, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose to publicly disclose the primary mission of the new Mossad chief, saying, "Barnea's mission will be to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb." A sign from him to the challenge of US President Joe Biden's administration, with the resumption of the fifth round of Vienna talks with a view to Washington's return to the nuclear agreement.

Netanyahu’s statements do not come from a vacuum, as Barnea takes office at a time when Iran is close to becoming a "nuclear state" according to Israeli estimates, and therefore the new Mossad chief will have to build confidence and strengthen relations with the Americans, especially since the Biden administration is reluctant to cooperate with Netanyahu, who has relapsed. In the campaign "Guardian of the Walls" and the Israeli aggression on Gaza, which are developments that oblige Barnea to intensify the collection of intelligence information to prevent the escalation of Hamas and Islamic Jihad activities in Palestine.

Barnea assumes his duties as head of the Mossad, and he stands at a dramatic crossroads in designing the secret security of Israel, these days the Americans are preparing to return to the nuclear agreement and lift the sanctions on Iran, and the Mossad will give priority to this issue in order to thwart Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and long-range missile capabilities .

Barnea joined the Mossad in 1996 and rose in various positions (Al-Jazeera)

Biography and march of Barnaya the security establishment and the army?

Barnea was born on March 29, 1965, in Ashkelon (Ashkelon).

At the age of 15, he joined the Military Boarding School in Tel Aviv, motivated by the desire to develop leadership and combat capabilities in the occupation army.

He is 56 years old, married and has 4 children. He joined the Mossad in 1996 and is progressing in various positions, until the year 2019 was appointed as deputy head of the Mossad Cohen, who will end his position on the first of June 2021.

In 1983, the Israeli army was recruited as a fighter in the reconnaissance regiment in the General Staff unit (Siirt Matkal), which is a military unit that is considered an elite in the Israeli army and is directly subject to the General Staff and is classified with the Intelligence Department. For all kinds of fighting, especially what Israel calls "fighting terror."

In 1992, he obtained a master's degree in business administration from New York University, and worked as a senior business manager at an investment bank in Israel.

When he joined the Mossad, he enrolled in the information-gathering officers course and was appointed to the Operations Department, where he apprenticed and advanced in positions through the supervision and follow-up of the outgoing President Cohen, who had chosen him as his deputy and recommended to Netanyahu that Barnea be his heir to the position.

He commanded operations units in Israel and abroad, and between 2013 and 2019, he commanded the "Tzumet" division in the Mossad, which oversees the recruitment of agents from all over the world. Under his leadership, the division was awarded 4 awards from the Israeli army, but without revealing the background and the reasons for that. .

Why did the Mossad Barnea division win the Israeli army awards?

Indeed, despite the secrecy and secrecy, in the years in which Barnea assumed the leadership of the "Tsomet" division, he was also responsible for major, major and fateful operations in the history of the Mossad, including those that brought to Israel dramatic intelligence information about the Iranian nuclear file and the strengthening of Hezbollah's military capacity. It is estimated, according to Israeli journalist and intelligence and security analyst Yossi Melman, that Barnea oversaw the assassination of the prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Netanyahu alluded to the role of Barnea, who is the 13th head of the Mossad, to the large operations of the intelligence apparatus and special missions, saying, "Every operation you carry out is more daring, creative and insane than its predecessor," adding "James Bond is a puppet compared to you. There is no movie in the world that parallels and compares operations." Mossad. "

Israeli journalist: Barnea supervised the assassination of the prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (Reuters)

What is the agenda of Barnea in the Mossad?

What is not expected to change with Barnea taking office is the Mossad agenda, and the efforts made to collect information about Iran's nuclear program and thwart its military components, in addition to carrying out operations if necessary, according to Melman.

Melman believes that the gathering of intelligence and anti-terror operations and special operations against Hezbollah and jihadi organizations' plans against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, and the protection of Jewish institutions around the world, will be at the forefront of Barnea’s agenda, in addition to strengthening Mossad’s relations with other intelligence agencies, as well as With countries and organizations with which Israel does not have diplomatic relations.

Note that the Mossad currently has contacts with 150 countries and intelligence entities.

What are the tasks and challenges facing the new head of Mossad?

The new head of the Mossad will have to find new ways and means to deal with the Iranian nuclear file and Tehran's missile capabilities, so that he will have to build intelligence activities and operations against Iran under the rule and the cornerstone laid by his predecessor Cohen, both in terms of improving the mechanisms for gathering intelligence information and operational and operational capabilities against the nuclear project. Iranian.

According to the military website of the "Yediot Aharonot" newspaper, Ron Ben Yishai, Barnea was the long arm of Cohen in everything related to attacking Iranian targets, and he achieved what he considered "amazing achievements", especially after the bombings at the Natanz centrifuge facility that Tehran attributed to the Mossad.

This matter, according to the estimates of the military analyst, necessitates Barnea innovating and developing new mechanisms for dealing with the Iranian nuclear, as well as dispensing with some operating methods, and taking more effective precautions than before.

The Israeli Mossad logo (activists)

The dilemmas facing the Mossad chief with the nuclear file and the Iranian missile project?

The main problem is that the nuclear project and the missile project that will carry the nuclear bomb to its targets, according to Israeli estimates, continue to progress at the pace that the Iranians want.

As a result, Iran has already come close to being a "nuclear state" and an estimated distance of a year and a half from the initial nuclear capacity to house an effective nuclear explosive facility.

This problem will be exacerbated, from the Israeli point of view, when the United States and Iran return to the 2015 nuclear deal, after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed economic sanctions on Iran.

It is likely that the Americans will limit the activities and operations of the Mossad by detonating nuclear facilities and assassinating Iranian scientists, operations carried out by the Mossad in the past, and it may wish to carry out such operations in the future.

How will the head of the Mossad deal with the American administration?

With America's expected return to the nuclear agreement, it will be imperative to build confidence, develop and strengthen relations with the US intelligence community and with senior Biden administration officials, and work together with the White House to formulate a strategy and working methods agreed upon by Washington and Tel Aviv.

The basis for enhancing cooperation and trust is due to the fact that Israel will need US military and political assistance if Iran approaches a nuclear capability, and it will need to work jointly or separately but with US support.

The internal obstacles that may hinder Barnea in his duties in dealing with the Iranian nuclear program?

The Iranian nuclear file is one of the most important tasks of Barnea, but it will not be easy if Netanyahu appoints Cohen (the outgoing Mossad chief) as his special envoy for Iranian affairs, as the Biden administration is reluctant to cooperate with Netanyahu, and Cohen, no matter how talented he is, and is very attached to Netanyahu.

Therefore, if Netanyahu becomes prime minister, Cohen will also be somewhat a "parallel Mossad chief," and Barnea must take this into account, and he may fear developing his own initiatives and operations, because of the expected power for Netanyahu if he remains prime minister, according to the political correspondent of the newspaper "Yedioth." Aharonot, Itamar Eichner.

In addition, the new Mossad chief will have to greatly increase the collection of intelligence information to prevent the increase in the influence of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the increase in the military strength of the resistance factions after the "guard of the walls" operation, especially since this file was not at the core of the Mossad's work, even if it was a partner with the various agencies. Security and military file arming the Palestinian factions and their military arsenal.