In the interview, she said that her husband left behind memoirs, notes and other evidence. On his last visit, in 1964, he told intelligence officers he wanted to come in from the cold because he was concerned a new Syrian intelligence commander did not like him. According to the report, Mossad agents were on their way to Auckland, with one text saying: "Wait for our partners to arrive before making a decision.". He set up a travel agency in Tel Aviv and developed ties with the upper echelons of Israeli society, including politicians. "Concentrate on yourself; look forward to a better future!". Get email notification for articles from Yossi Melman, Reproduction of an Israeli stamp being issued to honour the Mossad intelligence agency spy Eli Cohen who was hanged in Damascus. [9], Cohen continued his social life as he had in Argentina, spending time in cafes listening to political gossip. He soon became accepted, well-liked, and respected, and made contacts with politicians, diplomats and military officials working out of the Syrian Embassy. [16][17] Mossad had carefully planned the tactics that he was to use in building relationships with high-ranking Syrian politicians, military officials, influential public figures, and the diplomatic community. [12][16], In 2016, a Syrian group calling itself "Syrian art treasures" posted a video on Facebook showing Cohen's body after his execution. In the final episode of The Spy, Cohen's brother Maurice, a Mossad analyst, confronts him after discovering he is the secret Agent 88 in Damascus. In 1963, during a business trip to Germany, he met Weltrude Scheffeldt, a divorcee, then 22 and with a small child, and married her. when you were three, your family left Lebanon and moved to Egypt Alexandria. Eli Cohenhad succeeded in friending a Saudi entrepreneur who had been contracted to plan and dig canals, the name was his friend was bin Laden, little Osama's father. The border with Syria was heating up as well. he supplies Eli with inside information about the political and military situation. "I am the son of the only person on this planet who knows where the remains are buried," he told Newshub in an interview. In 1967, the Israelis were able to conquer the Golan Heights in two days in part due to the intelligence he provided. In 1951, he was arrested and interrogated over his Jewish and Zionist activities that he was carrying out under the tutelage of Alexandria's chief rabbi. He had also participated in various Israeli furtive operations in the country during the 1950s. Returning to Nadia is Cohens ultimate goal. The 2019 'Netflix' miniseries 'The Spy' had actor Sacha Baron Cohen portraying Eli. Thanks". The Spy sees a friendship blossoming between Eli Cohen and Amin al-Hafiz, the future president of Syria, that begins as Cohen first goes undercover as Thaabet in Buenos Aires and mutually benefits them both for yearsright through to Cohen's discovery as an Israeli spy and subsequent execution. Years later, in February 2007, a Turkish official confirmed that the government had agreed to look into the matter of returning Eli's remains to his family. He emigrated to Israel with the assistance of the Jewish Agency. For more than 50 years, Nadia has fought to have her husbands body returned to Israel. Eli kept transmitting reports of a military character, top military orders, reports on new weapons to Israel. "The Spy" depicts Egyptian-born Cohen - played by Sacha Baron Cohen - as an ambitious, Arabic-speaking immigrant to Israel who is recruited by Mossad and, overcoming his fears and the strains on his family, infiltrates the Damascus high command by posing as a rich scion of the Syrian diaspora. In January 1965, Syrian government officials announced that Eli is an Israeli spy. Eli's first instructor Yitzhak learned to memorize things, he throws a dozen objects on the table and Eli observe them for a second and described them. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community. Kamal Amin Taabet (also called Tabas in some sources) was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Syrian Muslim parents. Cohen was convicted of espionage. The agency concluded that Cohen had a high IQ, great bravery, a phenomenal memory, and the ability to keep a secret; but the tests also showed that in spite of his modest appearance, he has an exaggerated sense of self-importance, and a lot of internal tension. Cohen, the results indicated, does not always evaluate danger correctly, and is liable to assume risks beyond those which are necessary.. Since then, Nadia has always counted on him. Cohen would pretend to be drunk to encourage such conversations, to which he paid close attention. The text messages between Khalid and the NZSIS. Unlike other news outlets, we havent put up a paywall. Still Ben-Dor, who was four years old when her father was killed, said she was pleasantly surprised by actor Cohens portrayal. HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters) - A Netflix drama about Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who infiltrated the Syrian government in the 1960s and was later executed, has received a . Syrian security services led by Suidani broke into Cohen's apartment on 24 January and caught him in the middle of a transmission to Israel. [15], Cohen moved to Damascus in February 1962 under the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet (Arabic: ). One of the ministrys directors entered the room unannounced. This helped the army win the Six-Day War and capture the Golan Heights. The six-part drama about Israeli spy Eli Cohen has gripped viewers and critics alike with its pulse-racing tale of espionage and a deceptively good dramatic performance by Sacha Baron Cohen, better known for his comedy work, as the Mossad agent. Do you rely on The Times of Israel for accurate and insightful news on Israel and the Jewish world? By 1960, however, Israeli Intelligence was ready to take another look at Eli Cohen. She has pleaded for years and is still waiting to receive Eli's body. While there, he gained the trust of Amin al-Hafez, who would later become Syrias president. He was convicted in a trial without a defense and sentenced to death. But an interview published in the Cairo Times yesterday with the German-born Weltrude Scheffeldt-Biton suggests that Egyptian intelligence played the most important role in unmasking Cohen. According to Maurice Cohen, this really happened. They married in 1959, a month after meeting, and had three children together. Before he was executed, Cohen met with a rabbi, as per his request, and sent his wife a letter. In the show, Cohenas Thaabetbefriends Hafiz in Buenos Aires and later in Damascus helps Hafiz's Ba'ath party seize power. Recruitment into the Mossad. In 1954, the British pull out of Egypt completely. children: Irit Cohen, Shai Cohen, Sophie Cohen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxhaPGREa74. However, Eli's loyalty was scrutinized, and he faced harassment by the 'Muslim Brotherhood.' https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/eli-cohen-16869.php. I want him, here and now, because I've reached the age that I deserve tranquillity. At the beginning of the 1956 War, when Israel occupied the Sinai, Eli Cohen was detained by the Egyptian authorities, and was expelled from Egypt along with the remainder of Alexandrian Jews at the end of the war. 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. Do what you must, don't deprive the children of a father. Every morning, Eli would leave home and head for the Aman training center. Cohen accepted the calling. When the Golan was captured in 1967, at almost the end of the Six-Day War, settlers in the north could finally feel relieved. He even trained at the same facility that had served as home to his doomed Susannah compatriots in 1953. He returned to Egypt in 1956 but was suspected immediately and was placed under surveillance. Sacha Baron Cohen-led limited series "The Spy" which comes out today on Netflix tells the true story of how famed Israeli Mossad agent Eli Cohen went undercover in 1960s Syria. Another tutor trained him to speak Arabic. love of country, sacrifice and about his life and my life, my children." . 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. After a few months, Eli was visited by George Salem Seif, a radio show host in charge of radio Damascus broadcast for Syrian abord. Again, I. While working as an intelligence officer offer him a job with high pay, Eli didn't say no and become a secret agent. He had seventeen lovers in Syria, all dazzling beauties with a fair degree of family power. Eli hoped as did Israeli Intelligence that these women would help him escape in time of crisis.. The film featured John Shea as Eli. Despite her criticism of the series, Ben-Dor said she understood why the shows creators took artistic license with her fathers story. Fiyaz Mughal,Eli Cohens body must be returned to Israel, The JC, (Undated). Ahead of the mission, Cohen had to learn to speak Arabic in a Syrian accent rather than his native Egyptian. After the Israel Independence War In 1954, the British pull out of Egypt completely. Speaking to Cohen's brother, and to Israeli and Syrian intelligence experts, Sputnik has pieced together a new look at the superspy's incredible life story. Cohen was publicly hanged in the Marjeh Square in Damascus on 18 May 1965. According to his fictional biography, in 1948 the family moved to Argentina, where they opened a successful textile business. Kamal Amin Taabets (Eli Cohen) return to Syria would ostensibly be the fulfillment of a lifelong patriotic dream. For four years, Cohen posed as a Syrian textile businessman named Kamal Amin Thabet, first in Argentina and later in Damascus. But what happened next apparently deviates from the way it appears in the show. He arrived in Israel on February 8, 1957. If indeed Biton was a double agent - and Israeli intelligence prides itself on the quality of his work - then it is difficult to believe that he exposed Cohen. 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. Eli, who would feign intoxication, remained sober and listened carefully., In addition to providing loans to government officials and acting as an avid host, he was asked for advice by government officials, who were often intoxicated by the alcohol he freely provided. Last Friday marked the 53rd anniversary of the execution of Eli Cohen, the Egyptian-born Israeli spy who burrowed his way so deep into the Syrian state apparatus he nearly came to head it. From the creation of Israel through, the present day, Syria has been one, if not the most, implacable of Israels enemies. [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. Eli was friends with two highly placed Army officers, Colonels Hatoum and Dali, who were fully informed about the scheme. [7][9] The Israel Defense Forces recruited him in 1957 and placed him in military intelligence, where he became a counter-intelligence analyst. Nadia Cohen attempted to appeal for clemency at the Syrian Embassy in Paris but was turned away. In 1959, he married Nadia Majald, born circa 1935, [10] an Iraqi-Jewish immigrant and the sister of author Sami Michael. 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. He is best known for his espionage work in 196165 in Syria, where he developed close relationships with the Syrian political and military hierarchy.[1][2][3]. Saif calmly replied, Theres nothing to worry about. Despite being away from home for months at a time, he fathered three children, Sophie, Irit and Shai. So now we have a request. Eli himself was not above the spicier part of a spys life either. He lasted until just July that year when he resigned in protest of the Ba'ath military committee executing dissenting rivals who tried to stage a coup for power. If you've already watched all of The Spy and are curious to know more about Cohen, then these accounts of the real-life Cohen might make for curious reading. the plan was doomed from staring, one of the bombs exploded in the pocket of Philip Natanson and was arrested by police and other members were caught in the following days. Asked to pinpoint what she found not to be reflective of her familys experience, Ben-Dor cited the ethnic gap, noting her mother was never a maid as was portrayed in the series.