A Business Conference in Tel Aviv
Barnea spoke at Priority’s conference in Pavilion 2 of Expo Tel Aviv. The organizer’s event page confirms the date and venue and describes an audience of executives, business partners, investors and advisers. His appearance was at a business and technology gathering, rather than a new official Mossad briefing.
Ynet and Ynetnews reported his remarks. Although the coverage circulated ahead of October 25, 2026, the appearance took place on October 22, 2026. The reports examined did not identify the interviewer.
Publicity as Protection
Barnea said protecting agents inside Iran was one reason Mossad released an official operational video at the start of Operation Rising Lion. He described an effort to prompt so many arrests that Iranian authorities would struggle to distinguish real operatives from people with no connection to the agency.
He claimed that 21,000 people were detained on the second day of the fighting and that the mass arrests ultimately ended in releases. Ynetnews said neither the number nor his account of the releases could be independently verified. His statement therefore does not establish the fate of every detainee in Iran.
Barnea also said some people executed by the Iranian regime on espionage allegations had never worked for Mossad. This was his challenge to those accusations, rather than an independently examined list of individual cases.
Personal Responsibility for Agents
Barnea said he personally approved the operatives assigned to the missions. According to his account, agents knew about the campaign weeks in advance and maintained secrecy. He also said participants continued to live in Tehran.
He was discussing the campaign that began on June 13, 2025. The IDF’s opening announcement described attacks on Iranian military targets and facilities associated with the nuclear program. Barnea’s public account adds his explanation of source protection; it provides no basis for publishing identities, locations or methods beyond what he disclosed.
Hundreds of Tests and Limits on Harm
Discussing preparations for the pager operation, Barnea said hundreds of experiments were conducted, including tests using mannequins that simulated the human body. He said he repeatedly demanded smaller explosive charges to reduce danger to people near Hezbollah terrorists carrying the devices.
He presented protection of the targets’ family members as a limit he imposed on planners, even when they warned that the restrictions would reduce the operation’s effectiveness. These statements describe his asserted instructions and planning intentions. They do not, by themselves, establish that civilians were unharmed.
Waiting for Confirmation
The pager operation took place on September 17, 2024. Walkie talkies used by Hezbollah exploded on September 18, 2024. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly acknowledged Israeli responsibility on November 10, 2024, as reported by JNS.
Barnea recalled Netanyahu asking, shortly before activation, what would happen if the system failed. He described projecting confidence while feeling anxious, then waiting for reports from Mossad sources and the media. In his telling, the command room did not receive immediate confirmation of success when the devices were activated.
He divided the effect on Hezbollah into harm to its personnel, damage to morale and fear about the security of its equipment. Those are his assessments of the operation’s physical and psychological consequences.
Asked about another operation, Barnea did not confirm one. His remarks offer a retrospective account of decisions he says he made, without establishing a new plan or providing grounds to predict a future covert action.
