US President Joe Biden and Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen met on April 30 at the White House. A spokesperson for the American National Security Council said Cohen’s original meeting was with the agency’s chief Jake Sullivan, and that Biden “dropped by to express condolences for the tragedy in Mount Meron.’’

But diplomatic sources told Al-Monitor the meeting was anything but a “drop by” — the kind of meeting senior Israeli officials have grown accustomed to over the years. It was apparently a full meeting set up by the White House at the president’s request. Cohen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s final weapon in his desperate bid to derail the looming US return to the Iran nuclear deal, had a lengthy one-hour sit-down with Biden last Friday.

That Biden took the trouble to meet with Cohen after not doing so last month when Israeli national security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat held top-level meetings in Washington attests to Cohen’s standing in the American capital. The personable Mossad chief enjoys unique prestige as head of the vaunted spy agency for the past five years. In Israel, he cuts a somewhat controversial figure in light of his fondness for the limelight and rumored ambitions to succeed Netanyahu down the line. However, in the intelligence community, Cohen has acquired admirers in most Western capitals.

Cohen’s English is flawless and he projects personal charm and charisma. He arrived in Washington on April 26 and conducted meetings with CIA director William Burns, national security advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Undersecretary Wendy Sherman, director of national intelligence Avril Haines and others.