| Eli Cohen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Eli Cohen 26 December 1924 Egypt |
| Died | 18 May 1965, age 40 Damascus, Syria |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Spouse | Nadia |
| Children | Sophie, Irit, Shai |
Eli Cohen (Hebrew: אלי כהן, 26 December 1924 — 18 May 1965) was an Israeli spy. He is best known for his work in Syria, where he developed close relationships with the political and military hierarchy and became the Chief Adviser to the Minister of Defense. He was eventually exposed and executed in Syria in 1965. The intelligence he gathered is claimed to have been an important factor in Israel's success in the Six Day War.[1]
In 2005, he was voted the 26th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.[2]
Contents |
Born in Egypt, Cohen took part in various operations in the country during the 1950s, though the Egyptian government could never verify and provide proof of his involvement in Operation Goshen. In the 1960s, he was recruited by the Israeli military intelligence.[3] He was given a false identity as a Syrian who was returning to the country after living in Argentina. To establish his cover, Cohen moved to Argentina in 1961.[4][5]
The following year, he moved to Damascus.[6][7] For the next few years, using the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet كامل أمين ثابت (commonly pronounced Saabet) Cohen gained the confidence of many Syrian military and government officials, and sent intelligence to Israel by radio, secret letters, and occasionally in person. His most famous achievement was when he toured the Syrian fortifications on the Golan Heights. In 1964 his assignments were transferred to Mossad as part of an intelligence reorganization.[8]
Cohen made many friendships with high-ranking Syrian generals while undercover. Some sources even say that he had established a good friendship with Amin Hafiz. Hafiz said that this was not true in a 2001 interview in which he said that such a friendship would be impossible given the fact that he had been in Moscow until 1962.[9] After Hafiz became Prime Minister, Cohen may even have been considered for the position of Syrian Deputy Minister of Defense,[10] though Hafiz's secretary has denied that this was the case.[11]
Cohen also learned of an important secret plan by Syria to create three successive lines of bunkers and mortars; the Israeli military would otherwise have expected to encounter only a single line.[3][12][13]
In January 1965, hired Soviet experts caught him in the act of sending a radio message after large amounts of radio interference attracted attention. After a trial, he was found guilty of espionage. Despite many appeals, including from Pope Paul VI and the governments of France, Belgium and Canada, to persuade the Syrian government to commute the death sentence,[14] he was publicly hanged by Syria on 18 May 1965.
According to his brother and fellow Mossad agent Maurice Cohen, Eli Cohen was third in line to succeed as president of Syria at the time he was discovered.[15]
Requests by Cohen's family for his remains to be returned to Israel have been denied by the Syrian government (as of May 2006). In February 2007 a Turkish official confirmed that his government was ready to act as a mediator for the return of Cohen's remains to his family from Syria.[16] In August 2008 Monthir Maosily, the former bureau chief of the late Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad, said that Eli Cohen's burial site is unknown, claiming that the Syrians buried the executed Israeli spy three times, to stop the remains from being brought back to Israel via a special operation.[17]
Cohen's brothers, Abraham and Maurice, originally led the campaign to return his remains. Maurice died in 2006. Eli's widow, Nadia, has since led the campaign.[3][6]
The film The Impossible Spy is a depiction of his life.[18] He is featured at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
A memorial stone has been erected to Cohen in the Garden of the Missing Soldiers in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
Eli Cohen was married to his wife Nadia and had three children, Sophie, Irit and Shai.[19]