Mossad chief’s media consultant also advises Emirati businessman

Mossad chief David Barnea’s media adviser provides consulting services to a notable Emirati businessman as well as various other business figures in Israel and around the world without clearly disclosing her relationship to the agency, Walla News reported Wednesday, suggesting a potential conflict of interest affecting Israel’s national intelligence agency.

The consultant, whose identity could not be revealed due to Mossad’s strict censorship policy, was identified by the news site as a well-known communications consultant who owns a private consulting firm.

The report noted that the Mossad traditionally did not have a spokesperson and in the past handled media relations through the Prime Minister’s Office. But the unnamed consultant was brought on by former director Yossi Cohen as an outside adviser and was kept by Barnea after his appointment last June.

Walla reported that the adviser provides consultation services to an Emirati public figure with multiple business ventures in Dubai and elsewhere in the world, as well as to various other global companies, businesspeople and philanthropists, all holding diverse and potentially conflicting interests.

In the past, she was also involved in a business venture led by former US President Donald Trump’s adviser Jared Kushner that involved a Saudi venture capital firm investing in Israeli start-up companies.

Her terms of employment with the Mossad have not been disclosed, leaving potential conflicts murky.

Walla cited two unnamed former Mossad officials as expressing unease and surprise at the spy agency’s conduct on the matter.

The report said the adviser was previously employed as a media consultant to Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman but that agency had ended the relationship, without providing additional details or the reason she was let go.

The report said Barnea had kept the adviser on despite pushback from former officials. It cited an unnamed senior Israeli official who said that the Prime Minister’s Office, Defense and Foreign ministries, National Security Council and Shin Bet have all been uneasy with the consultant’s direct involvement in Mossad affairs.

The issue has been discussed extensively in recent days, Walla said, adding that the Prime Minister’s Office was now working on locating an appropriate candidate for the sensitive position of Mossad spokesperson.

A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on behalf of the Mossad read: “Following a legal examination of the issue, no connection was found between the [consultant’s other clients] and Mossad and as such there is no concern of a conflict of interest.”