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For the next two years, he worked as a filing clerk in a Tel Aviv insurance office. Eli Cohen was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on December 26, 1924, the second of eight children in a family of orthodox Jews. In real life, the closeness between Hafiz and Cohen has been disputed by the former president of Syria, who claimed in a 2001 interview with Al Jazeera that they couldn't have met in Buenos Aires because Hafiz was in Moscow until 1962, by which time Cohen had gone undercover as Thaabet in Damascus. Eli, after all, was born in an Arab country, had oriental features, was known to be selfless and fearless in pursuit of a cause, and had knowledge of Arabic, English, and French. In 1960, the national intelligence agency of Israel, 'Mossad,' approached Eli for a classified mission in Syria. Please use the following structure: [email protected], Send me The Times of Israel Daily Edition. They further said that the use of the term "partner" is generic and is applied to all those agencies with which we have contact. In November 1965, Eli's wife wrote to Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad, requesting him to send Elis remains back to Israel. But Sophie was born without seeing his father. On 18 May 1965, Eli cohen was woken by the jailer and fastened the noose, and hang up, the huge poster was fastened on his chest where his sentence was written in Arabic.Even today Syria refuses to return his body for burial in Israel. Maurice isn't sure what this means. He then underwent a show trial, like the Operation Susannah spies had in Egypt 12 years before., Like them, his verdict was predetermined. He was driven to the airport, where his wife Nadia saw him off. He was taught high-speed evasive driving techniques, Weapons proficiency (especially with a wide variety of small arms), topography, map reading, sabotage, and, most importantly, radio transmissions and cryptography. In November that year, Nadia, wrote to Syrian politician and former president of Syria (19712000) Hafez al-Assad, asking him to forgive Eli and requesting him to hand over her husbands remains. "- From Eli Cohen's last letter to his wife Nadia and his children, written an hour before his execution in Damascus. But his knowledge of the Arab language and Arab culture, as well as prior work in espionage in Egypt, made him a good candidate for the Mossad. The TV film 'The Impossible Spy' (1987) chronicled Eli's life. Eli's second instructor Yehuda taught him how to use a small, sophisticated radio transmitter. During their exchange, Cohen signs off by asking, "Did N get the Singer?" Eli kept transmitting reports of a military character, top military orders, reports on new weapons to Israel. (Haim Zach/GPO). Where Is Nadia Cohen Now? [5], His parents and three brothers left for Israel in 1949, but he remained to finish a degree in electronics and coordinate Jewish and Zionist activities. He arrived in Israel on February 8, 1957. For more than 50 years, Nadia has fought to have her husbands body returned to Israel. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Monthir Maosily, a former bureau chief for Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, claimed in 2007 that Hafiz and Cohen were not as close as was made out and that stories of Cohen infiltrating the very top of Syrian politics "had been exaggerated to undermine Syria, as if he was a spy who had transmitted Syria's deepest secrets.". [30], Cohen has become a national hero in Israel, and many streets and neighborhoods have been named for him. The film featured John Shea as Eli. On 29 December 2022, Cohen was sworn in as Foreign Minister alongside a new government, and will rotate the position with Israel Katz. It hurt. The actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has a . Eli found out about Syria's secret plan to attack the Israeli defense forces. Cohen expressed fear of discovery to the Mossad on his last secret visit to Israel in November 1964, and he stated that he wished to terminate his assignment in Syria. Over the years, her relationship with the Mossad and that of her children, Sophie Ben-Dor, Irit Peleg and Shai Cohen, unraveled. thus Israel needed an agent in Damascus (Sami Micheal, Nadia Cohen's brother was recruited. He says the spies wanted him to try and talk to his father's close friends or provide insight. Sacha Baron Cohen, the Mossad and Netflix. Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion, Antoni Porowski Talks New Cookbook, Recipes and Tradition in Cooking, Netflix's 'The Spy': Eli Cohen's Remains Still a Mystery, How to Watch True Crime Series 'Unbelievable' on Netflix. But even after four decades, there are still many questions related to the Eli Cohen affair, some minor, others major - among them, the way in which Syrian counterintelligence identified the Israeli spy. Intelligence officers who investigated the issue offered two possibilities: The first is that it was Egyptian intelligence that identified Cohen and gave him up to the Syrians; the second, which is considered more probable, is that the demand for information was so great that frequent communications via radio to Mossad headquarters exposed Cohen to Syrian counterintelligence. Egyptian authorities uncovered the spy ring and sentenced two of the members to death. He soon became accepted, well-liked, and respected, and made contacts with politicians, diplomats and military officials working out of the Syrian Embassy. In the 1960s, Israel developed a national water carrier which diverted water from the Kinneret into a pipeline that irrigated much of the country and especially Israels arid south. In the name of the Syrian Arab people, The Military court has decided in its meeting which was held on Muharram 7th, 1385 - May 8th, 1965 to sentence Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen, a resident of Tel Aviv in Occupied Palestine, to death for committing the following crimes: The crime of disguised entry into a military location. A year later your sister dies.in 1947 all of you arrived in Argentina. In the show, Cohenas Thaabetbefriends Hafiz in Buenos Aires and later in Damascus helps Hafiz's Ba'ath party seize power. Nadia and Eli Cohen pictured in the 1960s The 41-year-old was brutally hanged in Marjeh Square in Damascus in front of a crowd of 10,000 people, in May 1965 - and despite his last request to have his body returned to Israel, the Syrian authorities have to this day never disclosed the whereabouts of his remains. In exchange for his freedom, he agreed to work for Egypt's intelligence service. Again, I. [12][20][21] Cohen was able to find out that the Syrians planned to divert the Jordan River headwaters in an attempt to deprive Israel of water resources, providing information to Israeli forces that enabled them to destroy the equipment prepared for the task. soon Israel's tanks and cannon riposted with heavy fire, and minutes later mirage pounded the Syrian position and blasted the cannon of Syria that was dug. Their youngest child, Shai, was only 21 days old then. later he handed with Syrian passport in name of kamal Amin tabet, he advised to open a bank account in that name and start visiting Arab restaurants, the cinema where Arab movies are shown, and political club. Nevertheless, Kamal Amin Taabet (Eli Cohen) succeeded in visiting every position. A month later, a Syrian officer would say that one of Israel's attack architects had been Eli Cohen, who was in Israel during the battle. I want him (Yossi Cohen) to clarify what hapepned," said the 84-year-old. This version contradicts that of Israel's secret service. Scheffeldt said that her husband never revealed his true identity, and she learned of it only after a television series aired in Egypt that described him as a national hero. "I beg you my dear Nadia do not spend your life weeping for what has past," his final letter read. He organized several protest campaigns against the British rule. Before he was executed, Cohen met with a rabbi, as per his request, and sent his wife a letter. As we saw, the Syrians continually harassed Israels northern settlements from 1948-67. He was hanged on May 18, 1965. Eli was friends with two highly placed Army officers, Colonels Hatoum and Dali, who were fully informed about the scheme. Syria tortures him but he was still lying, his face was covered with wounds, his nail was pulled out. In the fifties, Israel had launched a project of huge pipeline and canals that would carry a part of the jorden river water to the arid Negev region. On January 25, 2000, Nadia presented a picture of a new postage stamp with Elis face, to Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, honoring her husband. Out of fear of being caught, Eli expressed his wish to visit Israel in November 1964, to pass on information and also witness the birth of his third child. He was eventually exposed and captured by Syrian Intelligence in 1965, sentenced to death and hung at Damascus' main square. He escaped punishment due to lack of evidence. One of the more famous aspects of his spying regarded a trip he took to the Golan Heights. Israeli spy who was captured and executed in Syria, that enabled them to destroy the equipment prepared for the task, "Israel's Secret Operation to Recover the Watch of a Legendary Spy", "Rumors fly that body of legendary Israeli spy Eli Cohen was found", "Eli Cohen, notre agent "top secret" Damas", "Mossad's master of deception: the astounding true story of Israeli super-spy Eli Cohen", Widow of Israeli spy Eli Cohen: Netflix drama 'raises my blood pressure', "Unending agony for legendary spy Eli Cohen and his widow", "Israel's secret war against Hitler's scientists", "The History of Elie Cohen: An Egyptian Jew who became Israel's greatest spy", "Will Israel's superspy finally rest in peace? China Offering Cutting Edge Type 052D Destroyers For Export: Are Algeria and Russia its Most lIkely Clients? Eli himself was not above the spicier part of a spys life either. The Arabs would have none of it and decided to divert the sources of the Jordan River which originated in Arab-held territory. In this way, the Arabs hoped to deprive Israel of the waters she would need for her national growth. The goal was to gather intelligence from high-ranking Syrian politicians and military officials. Hes a trusted friend.. After some months, Abdel Latif Hassan introduces Eli to General Amin El-Hafez, the military attache at the embassy. [22], It is claimed that the intelligence that Cohen gathered before his arrest was an important factor in Israel's success in the Six-Day War,[23] although some intelligence experts have argued that the information he provided about the Golan Heights fortifications was also readily available from ground and aerial reconnaissance. Eli Cohen was born in Egypt in 1924 to Jewish parents, who had migrated to Alexandria from Syria. Nadia believed it and went to see him off at the airport in 1961. He was sentenced to death. Military Stories site will provide you the latest News related to military. It could not let Syria succeed and planning a response. Israels defense planners urgently needed reliable intelligence on the scope of the water diversion project engineering plans, diagrams, maps, and other data and up-to-the-minute assessments of Soviet influence in the Syrian capital, as well as detailed information on plans for the modernization, equipping, and retraining of Syrian forces. Eli Cohen was the man for the job. He was stunned by the precision of the Israeli bombing during the 1964 attack. Our website uses cookies to improve your experience. Text messages sent from an NZSIS agent called "Carl" appear to show him brokering a deal. Eli's handlers were continually persuading him to return. I beg you my dear Nadia do not spend your life weeping for what has passed. According to Scheffeldt, Cohen and al-Gamal were arrested together in 1954 and released shortly after. I am writing you these last words, minutes before my end, with the hope that you stay together forever. In the short periods he came home he wanted to absorb all the love from his children, he even smelt their scent to stay with him, and he wanted to give all the love possible, like a father to his children. The Golan Heights defenses were top-secret and closed only to top military staff. Cohen accepted the calling. Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Spy. In 1967, the Israelis were able to conquer the Golan Heights in two days in part due to the intelligence he provided. Cohen was arrested in January 1965 while transmitting to his handlers. [2], A 2018 article published in Newsweek by Ronen Bergman excerpted from Bergman's book Rise and Kill First, says that Eli Cohen located Alois Brunner, a Nazi scientist suspected of living in Syria, and relayed the information to an Israel intelligence unit that later sent letter bombs to Brunner. [29] Mossad director Yossi Cohen presented it to Cohen's family in a ceremony, and it is currently on display at Mossad headquarters. [9], In 1959, he married Nadia Majald, born circa 1935,[10] an Iraqi-Jewish immigrant and the sister of author Sami Michael. I think as long as Bashar Assad is in power I dont see the word progress,' she said, referring to Syrias dictator. She smiles. His family is now settled in Bat Yam. But within a month he had lost his Tel Aviv-based accountancy job. ", "Former Assad aide: Eli Cohen's burial site unknown],mm", "New footage emerges of Eli Cohen on the gallows", "Mossad Brings Home Watch of Israeli Spy Executed in Syria; Netanyahu Hails 'Brave' Op", "Watch of famed Israeli spy Eli Cohen recovered by Mossad", "The saga of Eli Cohen, Israel's greatest spy", "Will Assad's Ouster Free Body of Israel Spy? Daniel Sonnenfeld,55 years after execution in Syria, Israeli spy Eli Cohen makes headlines,Jerusalem Post, February 27, 2021). ", "Sacha Baron Cohen To Star As Eli Cohen in Netflix Limited Series 'The Spy', Cohen's widow asks for his remains to be returned, PM's speech at the ceremony marking 40 years since the death of Eli Cohen, Our man in Damascus: Eli Cohen of blessed memory, Exhibition in the IDF & Defense Establishment Archives, Eli Cohen, moments after the execution (part 1), Eli Cohen, moments after the execution (part 2), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eli_Cohen&oldid=1140124388, Egyptian people convicted of spying for Israel, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles having same image on Wikidata and Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 15:41.