This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.Yosef "Yossi" Meir Cohen (Hebrew: יוסף מאיר כהן; born 10 September 1961) is an Israeli intelligence officer.

He rose to lead Mossad's Tzomet Division and was the agency's deputy director from 2011 to 2013, when he was appointed National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

[13] In January 2018, Cohen oversaw the Mossad operation to steal Iran's secret nuclear archive in Tehran and smuggle it out of the country.

[14][15][16] Cohen has also been the chief Israeli official in charge of managing Israel's largely clandestine relations with various Arab nations.

He has often met with representatives of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar and helped negotiate Netanyahu's visit to Oman in 2018.

Given the present good relations with the United States, the Russian government, and restoration of partial diplomatic ties with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf centered around opposition to Iran, in Cohen's view there is a one-time opportunity for Middle East peace under terms very beneficial to Israel that the Israeli government must now seize.

[21] The Jerusalem Post reported in September 2019 that Cohen "does not believe anything will move on the peace process until Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas leaves office.

[6] In August 2021, Attorney General of Israel Avichai Mandelblit announced an investigation into claims that Cohen had accepted a $20,000 gift from Australian billionaire James Packer.

[24] In December 2021, Channel 13 released a report claiming that Cohen had had an affair with a flight attendant in 2018 and had revealed classified information to her.

[26] Tamir Pardo, Cohen's predecessor as Mossad director, compared the allegations to "like Cosa Nostra blackmail," saying it was "at the extreme of things that must not be done.

[28] Intelligence reporter Ronen Bergman has written that Cohen has a reputation as a tough boss, that he speaks fluent English, French, and Arabic.