The report states, “David Barnea was appointed head of Mossad in 2021. For years, Iran was the agency’s primary theater of operations. Barnea ordered a fundamental shift in an area that had previously been on the margins: influencing public opinion within Iranian society. Under his leadership, this field became a central component of the campaign against Iran.”
The report further notes, “a government can be overthrown from above, by relying on senior officials, or it can be overthrown from below, by cultivating mass popular protests and armed resistance by minorities. Israel has chosen both options simultaneously: it both cuts off the chicken’s head and cooks its own legs.”
Mossad had created an internal influence machine inside Iran designed to fuel unrest, “the neutral term ‘influence’ does not capture the scale and complexity of this effort. Against a regime that is entirely toxic, Israel has created its own poison machine. This project began four years ago and reached operational maturity two and a half years ago. It is a weapons system that, if fully activated, can be far more lethal than social networks alone.”
According to the article, this same “poison machine” was used by Mossad to fuel the unrest that erupted in Iran this past January. The report states, “in January of this year, tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets to their own rhythm. Behind these demonstrations was a vast effort carried out by Israel.”
(Emphasis as in the original article.)
According to the report, through the artificial organization of protests, Mossad was able to help position Israel to persuade the Trump administration to enter a war against Iran.
The report claims that earlier, “Israel’s plan was for the war to begin in June 2026,” but after the unrest orchestrated by Mossad in January, “Netanyahu ordered the Israeli army and Mossad to move the timeline forward.”
It also states, “on February 11, Netanyahu enters the White House. At a meeting held in the Situation Room, Mossad chief Barnea joins Israel via encrypted video link. Barnea presents the plan to the president in full detail. The atmosphere is positive… Netanyahu returns home with the sense that he and Trump are on the same wavelength and that there is no gap between them. The plan had received the green light for all its components.”
The New York Times had previously reported, “as the US and Israel prepared for war with Iran, the head of Mossad presented a plan to Netanyahu.
David Barnea said that within days of the start of the war, Mossad would likely be able to mobilize Iran’s opposition and ignite protests and unrest that could even lead to the collapse of the Iranian government. He presented this plan during his mid-January visit to Washington to Trump administration officials.
Netanyahu accepted the plan. Despite doubts from some senior US officials and some Israeli intelligence officers about its feasibility, both he and Trump viewed it optimistically. They believed that the killing of Iran’s leadership at the outset of the conflict, combined with a series of intelligence operations aimed at encouraging regime change, could trigger a large-scale popular uprising and bring the war to a swift end.”
The New York Times report strongly implied that Mossad was behind the January unrest, but did not state it explicitly.
However, the Ynet report explicitly acknowledges that, “behind these demonstrations was a vast effort carried out by Israel.”
And according to the article’s author, this confirms once and for all that Mossad was behind the violent uprisings that took place in Iran this past January.
NOURNEWS