Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen is considering creating a new political party to run for Knesset in the next general election, Hebrew media reported Saturday.

The unsourced Channel 12 report said that though Cohen has received offers to join existing parties, he is leaning toward forming a new political faction.

Cohen has long been linked to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who appointed him as Mossad head after he had served as the premier’s national security adviser, and reportedly has viewed him and fellow longtime confidant Ron Dermer as his potential successors.

The report came as Netanyahu’s coalition underwent a rocky week, with Haredi parties threatening to bolt the government and send the country to early elections over its failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military conscription.

After months of speculation that he would form a new right-wing party last year, Cohen decided not to enter politics, instead extending his contract for two more years as a director of Israel operations at SoftBank, a leading Japanese holding firm that primarily invests in companies operating in the technology, energy, and........

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