Benjamin Netanyahu: Mossad is a ‘glorious organisation’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hit out as his former Mossad head Tamir Pardo who had claimed in an interview that Mossad was a “criminal organisation with a license.”

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said: “I want to make something clear, the Mossad is not a criminal organisation. It is a glorious organisation that is doing holy work in the battle against terrorism and against other threats against Israel, and we all salute it.”

Pardo had made his comments during a news show, where he said: “The Mossad is a licensed crime organisation, that’s the most fun part of it.”

He also claimed that Netanyahu instructed the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to tap his phone and the phone of the then Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz in 2011 in connection to the leaking of classified material, an allegation which Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen, said was “incorrect.”