PM holds first working meeting with new Mossad chief Barnea

Barnea, 56, is the replacement for former Mossad director Yossi Cohen.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held his first working meeting with new Mossad Director David Barnea on Thursday.

In December, Netanyahu put Barnea, who is 56, married and has four kids, forth as his nominee to replace Yossi Cohen, but final approval did not come until May 24 due to the government’s transitional status.

Eventually, Barnea was approved because Cohen retired on June 1 and the Mossad needed a chief.

Barnea had served as deputy chief since 2019 and beat out Ehud Lavi, a former deputy chief, for the position.

Besides serving in an elite IDF reconnaissance unit prior to joining the Mossad in 1996, he has served in a wide variety of Mossad divisions, but especially as head of the Tsomet spy recruitment division from 2013-2019 and as deputy head of the Keshet electronic eavesdropping division.

While he ran the Tsomet division, the unit won four national security prizes.