The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad - September 18, 2025


My Chat with Yossi Cohen, Former Director of Mossad (The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad_881)

Topics
Mossad recruitment and family support intelligence collapse propaganda war endemic Jew hatred education
Hosted by
Gad Saad
Mentioned
Yossi Cohen Bnei Akiva James Bond Eli Cohen Ole Miss Zionist Judea Obama
‘Thank God For ELON!’ Dr. Gad Saad on Musk, Trump, Charlotte Murder and Woke (The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad_880) The Self-Serving Bias and Ostrich Parasitic Syndrome in Politics (The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad_882)

Episode Stats


Length

25 minutes

Words per minute

176.37

Word count

4,415

Sentence count

320

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

15

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Yossi Cohen, former Director of the Mossad from 2016 to 2021, shares his story of how he became a member of the Israeli intelligence agency, why he left the service, and how he was recruited by the agency.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 I am delighted to report that I have joined, as a visiting scholar, the Declaration of
00:00:04.740 Independence Center for the Study of American Freedom at the University of Mississippi.
00:00:10.540 The center offers educational opportunities, speakers, internships, and reading groups
00:00:16.040 for the University of Mississippi community.
00:00:18.980 It is named in honor of the United States founding document, which constitutes the nation
00:00:25.000 as a political community and expresses fundamental principles of American freedom, including
00:00:31.340 in the recognition of the importance of Judeo-Christian values in shaping American exceptionalism.
00:00:38.180 Dedicated to the academic and open-minded exploration of these principles, the center exists to encourage
00:00:45.460 exploration into the many facets of freedom.
00:00:49.000 It will sponsor a speaker series and an interdisciplinary faculty research team.
00:00:54.600 If you'd like to learn more about the center, please visit Ole Miss, that's O-L-E-M-I-S-S dot 0.95
00:01:01.560 E-D-U slash independence slash.
00:01:06.200 Ladies and gentlemen, have I got a guest for you today.
00:01:10.280 I've got with me here Yossi Cohen, who used to be the former director of the Mossad from
00:01:16.420 2016 to 2021.
00:01:18.900 Today, his inaugural book drops right here.
00:01:22.100 Let me read it for you.
00:01:22.960 The Sword of Freedom, Israel, Mossad, and the Secret War.
00:01:27.920 Welcome, Yossi.
00:01:28.680 How are you doing?
00:01:29.920 Thank you very much, Gad.
00:01:30.880 Thank you very much for having me.
00:01:32.280 Okay.
00:01:32.620 Just so that we clear all of the rumors that have been circulating on the internet, can
00:01:37.940 you confirm as the former director of the Mossad that Professor Gad Saad has never been,
00:01:44.540 nor is he currently, a Mossad agent?
00:01:46.760 Can I get that confirmation from you?
00:01:48.900 Absolutely, yes.
00:01:49.720 I mean, yeah, I know that we have to counter all these rumors, even though you could have
00:01:53.120 been a great one.
00:01:54.280 I think that you have the assets to be inoperative with the Mossad, but you've never done that,
00:01:59.100 unfortunately.
00:01:59.860 And you're not working with the Mossad, not then, not today.
00:02:03.060 Well, thank God.
00:02:03.860 Hopefully, people will pay attention to you.
00:02:05.640 Okay, I guess the first question, Yossi, does the Mossad come and find you, or do you go
00:02:13.180 find the Mossad?
00:02:14.260 In that, you know, how often is it that there is a set pathway by which you end up in the
00:02:20.780 Mossad versus they identify qualities in you and then approach you?
00:02:24.960 How does that work?
00:02:26.360 Okay.
00:02:26.640 I mean, there are two versions.
00:02:27.620 I mean, one is that if you would like to volunteer working in the Mossad, I mean, and we do have
00:02:32.520 a website these days, we didn't have that at that time that I was recruited.
00:02:37.060 You can eventually approach the Mossad yourself and you can be a volunteer to the Mossad.
00:02:41.940 I mean, the minute that you will send your CV, you will be eventually looked upon and people
00:02:48.660 will start to read about you and will take that seriously.
00:02:52.140 I have to admit that since we have activated this website of ours and that you can see what
00:02:57.540 the Mossad is doing, I mean, according to what we can say, I mean, as much as we can
00:03:01.760 say, we don't, we can't say much and you can eventually send your CV along into the website
00:03:10.340 or into the lines that are secured.
00:03:13.160 I mean, to make sure that your CV will get to the right hands of the Mossad recruitment
00:03:17.520 department, the HR, the number of CVs that we received has dramatically grown.
00:03:24.140 And we do receive something between 50,000 to 60,000 CVs a year, which is a lot.
00:03:31.880 The other way is that the way I was recruited to the Mossad, I was approached by them.
00:03:36.920 Right.
00:03:37.320 I was approached, by the way, in London.
00:03:40.060 I was a student in London just after the first Lebanese war, Lebanon war.
00:03:45.380 I mean, I was a commander and a soldier there and resigning from the army.
00:03:51.360 I mean, I, my wife and myself, I mean, we flew to London.
00:03:53.860 I mean, and then we had been like free students, I mean, for English, for literature and stuff
00:03:59.920 like that.
00:04:00.340 And I was approached there by, by the Mossad.
00:04:04.960 The minute they did, by the way, I said, yes, I would love to hear what you have to say.
00:04:11.840 And the rest is history.
00:04:12.960 So there are two, two different ways to be a Mossad member.
00:04:17.720 Either you volunteer through the web or they will approach you.
00:04:23.840 Did your wife upon the Mossad approaching you, did she try to temper your excitement and say,
00:04:29.740 hey, look, you know, you're supposed to be an English literature major or whatever?
00:04:34.000 Or was she as excited as you?
00:04:36.260 Let's, let's do it.
00:04:37.800 No, she was as excited as me.
00:04:39.180 I think that being Israel is, I mean, super young. 0.98
00:04:41.920 I mean, we'd been 21, 22 years of age.
00:04:43.980 I mean, you know, super Zionist and Bnei Akiva, you know, I mean, from, from our experience
00:04:50.580 and education in Israel, I think that she, she's, I mean, till today, I mean, she supported
00:04:55.560 that.
00:04:55.960 And, and, and yeah, we actually Mossad, when, when you enter this organization, you are recruited
00:05:04.900 as a couple.
00:05:06.140 I mean, the entire family has to support that.
00:05:08.220 I mean, not the entire family, you know, your parents, your, whatever, your brothers and
00:05:11.340 sisters, but, but your wife, your, your husband. 0.99
00:05:16.700 I mean, in case that you are an operative woman, I mean, they have to know what you do 1.00
00:05:23.140 and they have to agree to that.
00:05:24.820 I mean, you cannot really work in this kind of job when you travel so much and when you're
00:05:29.500 absent so much and when you don't really have normal life anymore and there's nothing to
00:05:33.740 tell the neighbors or your friends, what are you doing, where you are.
00:05:36.280 Um, it's kind of a problematic thing that has to be dramatically supported by your, um, by
00:05:43.200 your wife or husband.
00:05:44.660 Interesting.
00:05:45.260 Because, I mean, I'm going to bring up arguably, and you'll correct me if I'm wrong, the most
00:05:49.700 famous Israeli spy of all time, Eli Cohen.
00:05:53.120 Uh, if I'm not mistaken, he did live a full double life where his home family was unaware
00:06:01.260 of what he did outside of that.
00:06:03.520 Is it, is that true?
00:06:04.820 Well, Nadia, his wife knew.
00:06:07.200 Okay.
00:06:07.640 That he was working.
00:06:08.560 Yeah, of course, of course she did.
00:06:09.860 I mean, the kids were very young.
00:06:11.540 I mean, the three kids, I mean, they were babies at the time.
00:06:14.000 I mean, very, very young kids.
00:06:15.800 Um, and, uh, they knew nothing.
00:06:17.960 I don't think that the environment knew anything about what it does or what it did.
00:06:22.140 Um, and, but Nadia knew and, uh, there was, there was a lot of pressure inside a family,
00:06:28.460 a lot of pressure, not only theirs at the time, but even today's.
00:06:32.540 I mean, there, there is a lot of pressure inside the families.
00:06:35.060 I mean, to make sure, um, that, uh, they know what you do.
00:06:39.220 They know where you go.
00:06:40.080 I mean, they don't really understand, I mean, the, the level of the risk and, uh, where are
00:06:44.020 you traveling to?
00:06:44.840 I mean, they're not entering this kind of details.
00:06:46.660 Not that they cannot, but we do not share with them on daily basis, but the family should
00:06:51.180 support that.
00:06:52.100 And it creates a lot of pressure.
00:06:53.720 I mean, in my subordinates, I mean, among my subordinates, I mean, there were cases,
00:06:58.460 that, uh, uh, family was not supportive enough and, uh, they had to resign from the personal
00:07:04.560 job.
00:07:05.700 And we took him, we took them away from the streets.
00:07:09.000 And when you leave the Mossad, as you did in 2021, do you ever leave the Mossad or is
00:07:15.080 the Mossad always there one call away or you completely, there's a rupture and it was part
00:07:20.380 of my past and I'm now onto new things.
00:07:23.200 There's a kind of a guillotine time in which you, um, you, you have to leave.
00:07:27.000 I mean, you, you, you're not part of the operations anymore.
00:07:29.220 You do not have the responsibility anymore.
00:07:32.020 I mean, in, in, in June 1st, 2021 till 10 o'clock, I was responsible for everything.
00:07:38.720 Uh, an hour later, I was responsible for nothing.
00:07:41.180 I mean, it's not mine anymore.
00:07:42.300 I mean, and, uh, it's a big, it's a big change.
00:07:45.180 Um, but there was something with me.
00:07:47.220 I mean, every day, I mean, I, I, I loved, I, I appreciated a lot what I did.
00:07:51.880 I mean, I loved the job.
00:07:53.140 I, I loved the risk.
00:07:54.220 I loved traveling.
00:07:55.060 I loved the recruitment.
00:07:56.120 I loved the, I mean, being on the streets.
00:07:58.220 I loved working for the state of Israel and for the Jewish communities.
00:08:00.680 I loved serving the world when we have counterterrorism, not only for the sake of the state of Israel 0.99
00:08:05.160 or the Jewish people, but for everybody else.
00:08:07.160 I mean, I felt that we are, I did, um, what I was meant to do as an Israeli.
00:08:13.700 And then, and I was fulfilled, I mean, from the age of 22, when I was recruited till the
00:08:18.840 age of almost 60, when I, when I resigned, um, and it's meaningful life, you know, this
00:08:25.900 is, this is something very important.
00:08:27.240 So I look backwards, I think with a super high level of satisfaction.
00:08:34.300 Right.
00:08:34.460 Uh, maybe we can get into some of the geopolitical realities, some of which, of course, you were
00:08:39.620 involved in, you could probably imagine what's the first one I'm going to talk about, October
00:08:43.420 7th.
00:08:45.200 I myself, I'm a bit stumped and I've got the right guy to ask the question, what happened
00:08:51.180 that Israel wasn't able to react quickly enough?
00:08:55.980 Can you give, because of course, online, I hear endless conspiratorial stories.
00:09:01.720 Israel is in on it. 0.89
00:09:02.820 They turned a blind eye, of course, blah, blah, blah.
00:09:04.760 So set it straight for us, Yossi, what, what happened?
00:09:07.980 Okay.
00:09:08.300 So I, I think that there's no, no, any conspiracies that I can, I can trust.
00:09:13.240 I, I truly believe, unfortunately, that it was a huge failure.
00:09:16.620 See, as simple as that, or not as simple as that.
00:09:18.560 I mean, it put the country in a, um, a very, um, a dangerous, uh, dangerous situation.
00:09:24.540 You know, God, um, in, on, on the national, national level of security, um, there are
00:09:32.280 two lines of defense.
00:09:33.460 The one that you see and the one that you don't see.
00:09:35.220 The one that you don't see is the line of defense that we are creating.
00:09:38.280 I mean, the intelligence, uh, organizations.
00:09:40.100 This line of defense is super important because it has to be worked upon daily or minute by
00:09:45.860 minute.
00:09:47.060 Um, our main job, Mossad is operating only outside of the state of Israel behind the enemy lines.
00:09:53.000 We do not do either, neither Gaza nor Judea and Samaria, the West Bank.
00:09:58.980 We don't do that.
00:10:00.080 We operate in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, I will not refer to
00:10:04.060 other countries that we do, but we do it all the world if needed.
00:10:07.740 Um, nevertheless, um, this line of defense that we are creating, um, needs a lot of penetrative
00:10:17.640 work, penetrative job.
00:10:19.100 I mean, to go behind the enemy lines and to get the intel that we need, uh, to make sure,
00:10:24.020 to make sure that we know what the enemy is planning for us, to make sure that we are aware
00:10:28.960 of any, either tactical or strategic, uh, event that's happening against the state of Israel
00:10:34.660 or being planned against the state of Israel, we have to know that.
00:10:37.920 So, to either learn about their deeds or their thoughts and more often to disrupt it.
00:10:46.960 And let's say there is a terrorist, I mean, running in between Indonesia and out to Paris,
00:10:50.680 cases that I remember, uh, that has happened many times or from Iraq at the time of Daesh,
00:10:56.520 ISIS, cutting through Syria into, uh, um, into the international, uh, whatever borders
00:11:02.220 and cutting into, into Europe.
00:11:03.820 And now he's going to either Paris or London.
00:11:05.920 I mean, you have to know about this guy.
00:11:07.640 And when you do know about him, this is the line of defense of knowing.
00:11:11.260 The second line of defense is disrupting.
00:11:13.040 Um, and I, I, unfortunately, this line of defense has collapsed.
00:11:17.700 I mean, I, I know that there are many explanations about how did it happen and why did it happen
00:11:22.920 and, and the conception and all, all, all this, uh, all these words.
00:11:27.340 I mean, I cannot accept it.
00:11:28.840 I cannot accept it.
00:11:30.160 I cannot accept that, um, our intelligence organizations did not know well what Hamas is planning for us.
00:11:39.620 So first line of defense has collapsed.
00:11:41.840 The second line of defense is there because the first line of defense is not complete.
00:11:47.700 You don't really know what you don't know.
00:11:49.380 As we say, you see what you see, but you don't know what you don't see.
00:11:52.920 I mean, you will try to go much better, but the enemy on the other side is trying to hide from you, from us.
00:12:00.340 So since it needs a lot of modesty to understand that you don't know everything, keep the door locked.
00:12:10.020 Right.
00:12:10.820 In our house, what do we do?
00:12:12.240 I mean, do we know there is a thief?
00:12:13.520 I mean, running around the neighborhood, I mean, playing to go into your house in Montreal.
00:12:16.880 I mean, just before, uh, before midnight.
00:12:19.460 No, you don't know that.
00:12:20.320 So what do you do?
00:12:21.540 You have an alarm system.
00:12:22.680 You have a dog.
00:12:23.420 You have a lock.
00:12:24.300 I mean, you lock the door.
00:12:25.380 You make sure that everything, all the windows are shut.
00:12:28.020 Why is it?
00:12:28.520 We say, if I don't know that he is coming, I assume that he may.
00:12:33.760 Let's not make his life so easy.
00:12:35.820 And unfortunately, this second line of defense collapsed as well.
00:12:40.420 And this is not surprising.
00:12:41.480 This is shocking.
00:12:42.980 Right.
00:12:43.280 How come?
00:12:44.900 I hear you.
00:12:45.620 A lot of people, and again, this has become very evident to me because I'm someone who is very much publicly engaged.
00:12:52.280 And so I see all of the hate coming to Jews in general and to Israel, quote, Zionism in particular.
00:12:58.580 One of the arguments that I hear from some of my American friends is, and I think you addressed this in the book,
00:13:04.240 oh, in the same way that we should be isolationist and not care about what happens in Ukraine, this is not our battle.
00:13:10.640 Why is it that Israel has so intoxicated us into, you know, helping them as much as we do? 0.93
00:13:16.900 And of course, the answer is going to be that there's a lot of reciprocity that happens.
00:13:20.560 Talk us a bit through that so that we can quell the idea that it's a one-way parasitic relationship.
00:13:29.040 Well, in between us and the world, I mean, there is a kind of a very specific relationship.
00:13:33.760 I mean, I don't think that any country is, and any other country that I'm aware of, and I've been traveling around, I'm sure like you, Professor Saad,
00:13:41.200 I mean, around the world, I mean, you know, you know countries and you know cultures.
00:13:44.500 I don't think that there is any one single country that you can eventually compare into the State of Israel,
00:13:50.160 to the State of Israel on that sense.
00:13:52.580 We have to conduct different types of relationships.
00:13:54.800 Some of them are reciprocating.
00:13:56.620 Some of them are not.
00:13:57.500 I mean, some of them are unilaterally being decided or you have to take these kind of decisions to make sure that the State of Israel will exist if the world like it or if the world doesn't like it.
00:14:09.600 And somehow, I would say the problem of being the State of Israel the way it is or the position of the State of Israel right now is because this has been failed to be explained.
00:14:28.380 The question that you ask cannot be explained only by me.
00:14:33.840 It should be explained by everybody.
00:14:36.440 Why is it that Israel is taking part of these events?
00:14:41.000 And why is it that it doesn't take part of other events like the war in Ukraine, as you correctly mentioned, Gad?
00:14:48.960 We do not take part of all wars around the world.
00:14:52.240 I mean, we have our own business.
00:14:54.520 I mean, recently there was a kind of a round of violence between Pakistan and India.
00:14:59.320 Should we be part of it or should we go and fight?
00:15:02.800 I mean, against one side, of course, we will have the Indians. 1.00
00:15:06.440 As much as we can and we did, all right?
00:15:09.500 But we're not going to sell, you know, Ukraine, these kind of weapons they absolutely need when the world is not doing it or when the world is not doing it enough.
00:15:18.720 Why is it?
00:15:19.720 Because as us being Israelis, the equation is absolutely much more, should be much more sophisticated.
00:15:29.040 And it is sophisticated because on the war in Ukraine, we have another side that we want to keep on our side, which is Russia. 0.86
00:15:38.740 Why is it?
00:15:39.740 Because they have important, they had important elements in Syria.
00:15:43.620 And when the Russian presence is so high in Syria, which is the buffer between Iran and Lebanon, Hezbollah, we have to make sure that the Russians will allow us to attack either Iranians delivering weapons to the terror organization in Lebanon or else. 0.61
00:15:59.860 Yes. So you really have to calculate all that in a very different manner.
00:16:06.260 And I hope I answered your question.
00:16:08.100 You did. You mentioned earlier that, you know, a case has to be better made and so on for the issues that I asked.
00:16:14.380 Which leads me naturally to the next question.
00:16:16.840 And I hope you'll tell me if I'm being fair or not.
00:16:20.040 And I think you also do address this in the book.
00:16:22.180 So when you think, for example, of the Mossad, I mean, you think of almost these superheroes that can pull off the Hezbollah pager thing. 0.98
00:16:29.560 You think of all kinds of incredible, you know, where the Mossad agents are pretending to be tennis players in the Gulf countries and take out this guy and that guy.
00:16:37.320 It really is straight out of James Bond movies.
00:16:39.340 Now, when you compare that level of, you know, tactical ability to the propaganda war, and certainly as one who is a big defender of Israel and is, of course, also very proud Jew, I often say, as somebody who studies psychology of persuasion, I say, why is it that Israel doesn't seem to be quite as adept in pulling off the propaganda war?
00:17:07.520 Or in the way they're able to pull off some of these other miraculous things.
00:17:11.040 Is there an answer to that?
00:17:12.780 Or is it just that there are so many haters coming at us that even if there are great points that you're making, you're being drowned by a tsunami of hate?
00:17:22.300 Right.
00:17:22.780 But this would never release us from the trying of explanations.
00:17:27.640 Okay.
00:17:27.940 I mean, in simple words, I mean, we have to try better to explain ourselves.
00:17:30.840 I mean, the state of Israel exists not only because of its resilience and not only because of who we are.
00:17:38.440 We say in Hebrew, am levadad ishkon, and all that meaning, I mean, the people of Israel will always be kind of isolated.
00:17:46.260 I mean, because of a choice.
00:17:48.160 All right.
00:17:48.340 We need to guard our cultures.
00:17:50.620 We don't really be mixed with cultures.
00:17:52.800 So they will not, unfortunately or fortunately, I mean, will determine or will eventually destroy our beauty culture.
00:18:00.560 Okay.
00:18:00.820 So, but you have to communicate it around the world.
00:18:03.600 I mean, you have to explain what is the state of Israel is all about.
00:18:07.280 And when you do that, I think that you can create a kind of a pushback to the very negative sound that is coming from the world.
00:18:16.960 Eventually, when the war is started, even on normal days, the state of Israel from its first day of creation suffers from bad news or bad concept.
00:18:30.420 Or, I mean, very terrible, I mean, the discussions about the state of Israel and only of its creation.
00:18:37.920 And, of course, 67 was a kind of an adjective.
00:18:40.600 I mean, something that the world either was astonished or didn't like.
00:18:47.160 But the expectations of Israel being something that it is not is always there.
00:18:53.660 And I think that cynically the world is still communicating that as if we are doing something super wrong.
00:19:01.640 And I think that the state of Israel failed to explain.
00:19:05.000 I don't see anyone even trying to push back, I mean, all this negative news.
00:19:08.980 Like, I know that there are, let's say, a billion that do not agree with the existence of the state of Israel.
00:19:13.440 Some are saying it blankly.
00:19:16.020 The state of Israel should disappear.
00:19:17.160 Like, or isolated, like in Iran or in other Muslim big nations. 0.98
00:19:23.360 I mean, they don't like us from the beginning of the creation of the country.
00:19:26.860 I don't think that I can change their view.
00:19:29.620 But I think that we can do so much better in the UK, in the USA, in France, in Italy, in Poland, in Czech Republic, and so forth.
00:19:37.440 In Latin America or in Brazil these days.
00:19:40.340 Right?
00:19:40.640 I mean, the Brazilian, I mean, president is going.
00:19:43.300 You should come visit Canada to see some Israel here.
00:19:46.420 Exactly.
00:19:46.900 Or the Canadian administration or Australia.
00:19:50.440 So countries that do share the same values as the state of Israel now do not accept what we do.
00:19:55.100 Why is it that they do not accept what we do?
00:19:56.660 What have we done since October 7th?
00:19:59.500 I mean, okay, I know.
00:20:01.360 Yeah, we've been blamed to create a kind of intentionally starvation or genocide or humanitarian crisis and all that.
00:20:10.780 We don't do that intentionally.
00:20:12.240 Actually, this is maybe, maybe, I'm not sure that there is a hunger in Gaza, but this may be part of the unfortunate situation of the Gazan people because they've been held by a terror organization which doesn't let them leave correctly.
00:20:27.840 And the state of Israel is doing that war alone.
00:20:31.860 Well, the world has tried to defeat Daesh.
00:20:35.420 First, President Obama consolidated 74 countries to fight the same size of organization as Hamas.
00:20:45.900 And everybody was in favor.
00:20:48.540 How many citizens were killed then in cities by whatever, bombing?
00:20:55.220 I mean, no one calculated that because the world was, like, less cynical on that sense.
00:21:00.220 It was, like, terrifying.
00:21:01.720 We fight the same size of organization called Hamas alone.
00:21:06.880 And nevertheless, I mean, we receive, unfortunately, a lot of criticism from the world.
00:21:11.460 I hear you.
00:21:12.360 But I think...
00:21:13.340 Go ahead.
00:21:13.820 Finish your point.
00:21:14.840 I'm sorry.
00:21:15.520 But I think that we have to try better to explain that.
00:21:18.420 Yeah, I'm very mindful of your time.
00:21:19.680 I know you have only another five minutes.
00:21:21.160 So let me try to get as many questions in.
00:21:23.340 And do you imagine...
00:21:25.700 So I wrote The Parasitic Mind, where I talk about getting a mind vaccine to get rid of parasitic ideas. 0.91
00:21:31.920 One of the biggest parasitic ideas that has existed since time immemorial is just endemic Jew hatred.
00:21:36.960 Is there a way, when you live in such a rough neighborhood, to ever develop a mind vaccine or a soul vaccine?
00:21:46.460 An antidote. 0.71
00:21:47.300 An antidote to Jew hatred. 0.70
00:21:49.220 Because in my view, Yossi, and you'll correct me if I'm wrong, although I think you probably agree, it's not really about land.
00:21:56.300 It's about the fact that Israel belongs to Dar al-Harab. 0.66
00:22:00.120 By the way, you speak Arabic a lot of me.
00:22:02.180 I speak Arabic a lot.
00:22:03.380 Yeah, of course.
00:22:04.320 Of course.
00:22:05.420 I just said, you speak Arabic, don't you?
00:22:07.460 Look at this.
00:22:07.900 The Lebanese Jew and the former director of the Mossad are speaking in Arabic.
00:22:11.800 There's your viral moment.
00:22:12.840 So do you think that there could ever be a day, whether you saw it through your connections with the Abraham Accord or all your intimate friendships that you developed through the years with Arabs and Muslims, where that cancer, whereby you're teaching kids straight out of the womb that the Jew is the ultimate problem in your life, can we get rid of that and be able to live in brotherly peace? 0.88
00:22:36.820 Or is that me living in a utopia?
00:22:39.920 I think it is possible.
00:22:41.280 And the best example that I can refer to is what my dear friend, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed of United Our Emirates has done and instructed.
00:22:55.040 Immediately after signing the Abraham Accords, he changed the educational system in favor of the state of Israel. 0.93
00:23:01.380 So all this that was like probably using bad description of who we are has changed and they teach positive things about us.
00:23:14.020 And you were absolutely right, Professor Saad.
00:23:15.900 I mean, the minute you will go into the educational system and you will teach kids that being in Israel or being Jewish is okay, they will never think either way around.
00:23:27.680 I mean, it has to be educated positively either way.
00:23:30.000 I mean, this is the best antidote that I can offer.
00:23:33.760 From your lips to God's ear.
00:23:35.200 Last question.
00:23:36.420 Having served as the former director of the Mossad for five years, did you walk away from all of the things that you have experienced with a optimistic view of human nature or a pessimistic view of human nature?
00:23:51.040 A great question.
00:23:52.440 Well, partially I'm optimistic, but knowing the mankind or whatever, I mean, you mean very, very deep experience.
00:24:04.920 I mean, some of what we see currently is very much worrying.
00:24:11.140 People can create a kind of hate crime.
00:24:14.900 I mean, even here in New York, I mean, a few days ago, I mean, shooting a kind of a member of the Congress member only because someone thinks differently than him.
00:24:26.460 And at 22 years, a boy took a gun and killed him.
00:24:34.320 And this is a terrible thing to know.
00:24:35.960 I think it goes back to the question of optimism.
00:24:38.660 And I think that if education will deal with it, I will be much more optimistic.
00:24:44.360 This is the book, people.
00:24:53.140 Go out, buy it.
00:24:54.080 It drops today.
00:24:54.840 Yossi, stay on the line so we can say goodbye offline.
00:24:57.580 Thank you so much for coming on.
00:24:58.780 Real pleasure talking to you.
00:24:59.760 Cheers.
00:24:59.980 Absolutely.
00:25:00.540 Thank you very much, sir.
00:25:01.500 Thank you.
00:25:01.920 Thank you.