"Suddenly something changed there toward us. The agent replied: "Will do, thanks K". In 1965, the Syrian secret service was on high alert. As depicted in Episodes 4 and 5 of The Spy, Cohen aligns with Hafiz and the Ba'ath political party to overthrow the reigning government of Syria in March 1963. He would entertain high-ranking politicians and military officials at extravagant parties where there would be many women and lots of booze. Kamal Amin Taabet (also called Tabas in some sources) was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Syrian Muslim parents. The melting winter snows produce a huge run-off of water which makes the Golan a beautifully verdant area in the late winter and spring and irrigates the Hula and Jordan Valleys below. tabet sends it to Argentina, where his friend dispatches them to Israel with a diplomatic pouch. Foreign Minister Eli Cohen heads to Germany Tuesday as part of Israel's campaign to halt Iran's . Sacha Baron Cohen, the Mossad and Netflix. His training was extensive and exhaustive. If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. [8] His most famous achievement was the tour of the Golan Heights in which he collected intelligence on the Syrian fortifications there. in Israel, he found the job of translating weekly and monthly magazines for a man after a few months he was fired. However, running a double agent is considered to be one of the most complex missions in intelligence work. He soon established himself in the social and cultural life of the Syrian community of Buenos Aires and was known as a wealthy businessman who was generous, tipped well, and loved the night life. One of the most difficult tasks for Eli Cohen was to learn the intricate and unmistakable phonetic tune of Syrian Arabic; prior to his intelligence training, his Egyptian accent was undeniable. His trainer was an Iraqi-born Jew who had extensive experience training operatives in speaking Arabic and the traditions and Muslim customs. Israel could not survive without Jordan's water. Due to this information, the Israeli Air Force was able to obliterate the Syrian plans for the diversion scheme by shelling and bombing the bulldozers and other equipment used for the scheme in early 1964. Others have attributed the carelessness to an almost suicidal tendency perhaps, it was later surmised, he had been in the undercover world too long, but knew he couldnt get out of it. After a few months, Eli was visited by George Salem Seif, a radio show host in charge of radio Damascus broadcast for Syrian abord. 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 . (Haim Zach/GPO). Altogether, he returned to Israel three times between 1962 and 1965. The Ba'athist coup and Eli Cohen's role. When the Baath took power in 1963, Eli was firmly entrenched in Syrian high society. Since Eli did not have a steady job back then, even though he worked as an accountant, he had to rely more on Nadia to help support the family and their marriage. Israeli intelligence was particularly excited about Cohen . Even after the blown operation led to the demise of the Operation Susannah spies, Eli Cohen left Egypt for Israel to undergo intensive espionage training in the summer of 1955. In 1962 Eli cohen was in Damascus with crowded mosques and colorful souks, he rented a luxurious villa in the classy Abu Ramen neighborhood, close to the Syrian embassy. They were caught spying for Israel in 1953 and some of them were hanged. The next day he comes to Hassan's office and admitted that he is sick and tired to live in Argentina, he wanted to go back to Syria, could he help him with a letter of recommendation? Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Eli Cohenbecame certain that Israel had spied in the Syrian government. In 1963, new Ramdas replaced Meir Amit for a few months in charge of both a man and Mossad. In 1960, Cohen was approached by the Mossad for a mission in Syria. 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. But Sophie was born without seeing his father. In real life, Cohen was only able to return to Israel a few times during his mission. Fortunately, several were easy to spot, for they . But the intelligence officers convinced him to go back one last time. He wrote a last letter to his wife before he mounted the scaffold to a seething crowd. In 1961, Eli was sent to Buenos Aires in the guise of a Syrian textile businessman. "I want to ask wasn't Eli worth the price? Eli seemed to have completed the final stage in establishing his network. Another tutor trained him to speak Arabic. While working as an intelligence officer offer him a job with high pay, Eli didn't say no and become a secret agent. [12][16], In 2016, a Syrian group calling itself "Syrian art treasures" posted a video on Facebook showing Cohen's body after his execution. As we saw, the Syrians continually harassed Israels northern settlements from 1948-67. Nevertheless, Kamal Amin Taabet (Eli Cohen) succeeded in visiting every position. Employment was not always steady, and he soon had to rely more on Nadia to help support their marriage, which would quickly lead to children. The film featured John Shea as Eli. Eli Cohen, Israels most famous spy, also happened to be a hopeless romantic. I beg you my dear Nadia do not spend your life weeping for what has passed. That is, until Meir Dagan took over as chief. He was sentenced to death. The Syrian project to divert water from the headwaters of the Jordan away from Israel was mentioned already in the above introduction. The actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has a . On July 5, 2018, media channels announced that Elis wristwatch had been retrieved from Syria, which was later given back to Eli's family by 'Mossad' in a ceremony. According to an unconfirmed but widely believed story, he feigned sympathy for the soldiers exposed to the sun and had trees planted at every position, placed to provide shade. Returning to Nadia is Cohens ultimate goal. At first, he refused. you lived with your uncle and worked as a travel agency, later were very successful. In The Spy, based on the true story of Israeli agent Eli Cohen, comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen takes on a serious role, playing the title character. In an interview with Newshub, Al-Hafidh now says he is willing to reveal the information without the financial reward, as long as the Cohen's relatives finally have their peace. Eli was, however, taken in by 'Mossad' when Director-General Meir Amit was in search of a special agent to infiltrate the Syrian government. There he met members of the Jewish Underground, handled by Unit 131 of Israel's Military Intelligence, which was exposed by the Egyptians in 1954. 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. He then underwent a show trial, like the Operation Susannah spies had in Egypt 12 years before., Like them, his verdict was predetermined. Eli Cohen was an Egyptian-born Israeli spy best known for his espionage work in the 1960s in Syria, where it was alleged he developed close relationships with the Syrian political and military. Khalid al-Hafidh, a Syrian migrant living in Auckland, claims to be the son Amin al-Hafiz, a Syrian leader who presided over the country during Cohen's execution and his subsequent secret burial. Qudsi was ousted from power as a result of the March 8 coup, but Hafiz did not take power until months later. From 1961 to 1965, Eli transmitted crucial intelligence data, including that of the Golan Heights, to the Israeli army. Ahead of the mission, Cohen had to learn to speak Arabic in a Syrian accent rather than his native Egyptian. your father and uncle opened a textile store, but it went bankrupt your father died in 1956 and six months later your mother died too. She also said she understood and respected the show. One day they took Eli to visit the Syrian positions along Israel's border. Even today Syria refuses to return his body for burial in Israel. Spy Eli Cohen Wife Love Story, American History Has Been Whitewashed, But, Black Teen Girls On TV Are A Mess Finally. His wife, Nadia, would be left a widow with three very young children. I was more worried, Ben-Dor said of hearing that Cohen, who is known for playing comedic figures such as Borat, would star in the series. By 1960, however, Israeli Intelligence was ready to take another look at Eli Cohen. Despite being away from home for months at a time, he fathered three children, Sophie, Irit and Shai. He worked as an accountant and translator. He returned home to his family only a few times during his mission. A year later, in 1965, Cohen was caught transmitting over the radio back to Tel Aviv. He remembered and passed on to Israeli Intelligence the positioning of every Syrian gun, trench, and machine-gun nest in each Golan Heights fortification; tank traps, designed to impede any Israeli attack, were also identified and memorized for future targeting.. In August 2008, Assad's former bureau chief, Monthir Maosily, revealed that Eli had been buried thrice and that Israel would never receive his body. [28] The press announced on 5 July 2018 that Cohen's wristwatch had been retrieved from Syria. Over the years, Nadia has made several efforts to seek a bit of mercy from Syrian officials. [4], Cohen provided an extensive amount and wide range of intelligence data for the Israeli Army between 1961 and 1965. He sent intelligence to Israel by radio, secret letters, and occasionally in person; he secretly traveled to Israel three times. For four years, Cohen posed as a Syrian textile businessman named Kamal Amin Thabet, first in Argentina and later in Damascus. A memorial stone has been erected in the 'Garden of the Missing Soldiers' in Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, to commemorate him. Al-Gamal rushed to inform his superiors that Thabet was none other than Eli Cohen, the Alexandrian Jew. Sophia Cohen the 26-year-old daughter of billionaire hedge funder and Mets owner Steve Cohen is no longer engaged to her financier boyfriend Jason Levine, Page Six has confirmed. Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen (Hebrew: , Arabic: ; 6 December 1924 18 May 1965), commonly known as Eli Cohen, was an Egyptian-born Israeli spy. Eli's handlers were continually persuading him to return. He was also allowed to write a final letter to his wife. While there, he gained the trust of Amin al-Hafez, who would later become Syrias president. I hope, pray, that he will be returned home by the time I die," Nadia told Haaretz in 2010. They observed a period of radio silence, in the hope that any illegal transmissions could be identified. In Episode 5, Cohen's playboy-esque Thaabet hosts a sex party at his apartment to distract key government and military officials while the Ba'ath Party's military committee seizes power in Damascus. But he spent most of his time in Tel Aviv perfecting his cover and being briefed on Amans requirements of him in Syria, as well as last-minute intelligence data needed for his mission. His success in effectively penetrating the Syrian social and political/diplomatic/military strata already wildly exceeded Amans expectations of him, Cohen arrived in Damascus in February 1962, posing as a businessman from Argentina who had returned to his native land. In February 2007, the Turkish government offered to act as a mediator for their return. According to al-Gamal's version, he saw a photograph in an Arab newspaper at a newspaper stand in Frankfurt's train station that showed Amin Kamel Thabet touring fortifications on the Golan Heights with Syrian officers. ", "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. they suspect on a tablet but they verify the Tibet's transmission two times at 8 am precisely they broke into the tablet home, Eli was caught red-handed in the transmission. Israel tried to obtain the cooperation of her Arab neighbors for the plan, but the Arabs would not agree, even when the United States tried to use its diplomatic leverage for the furtherance of the plan. In early 1964, Eli was able to radio Tel Aviv that the channel was being dug along the entire length of the Syrian Heights to receive the diverted flow of the Baniyas River - one of the Jordans major sources - and empty into Jordanian territory. Eli carefully spelled out all the details of the project and passed them on to Israeli Intelligence. Do what you must, don't deprive the children of a father. But his knowledge of. Please use the following structure: example@domain.com, Send me The Times of Israel Daily Edition. Scheffeldt, 63, is the widow of Rifa'at al-Gamal, an Egyptian spy who reportedly operated in Israel for a number of years. 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. Meanwhile, every few days he transmitted important information to his Israeli handlers via a radio transmitter he had hidden in his room. The following year, Syria found out about Cohen by tracing his intelligence transmissions to Israel. [9], Cohen continued his social life as he had in Argentina, spending time in cafes listening to political gossip. 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. He worked as an accountant and translator. Israel could not survive without Jordan's water. I beg you my dear Nadia do not spend your life weeping for what has passed. This version contradicts that of Israel's secret service. "Concentrate on yourself; look forward to a better future!". In the 1987 TV movie 'The Impossible Spy,' Michal Bat-Adam portrayed Nadia, while in the 2019 'Netflix' series 'The Spy,' Hadar Ratzon-Rotem played her, with Sacha Baron Cohen as Eli. I want him, here and now, because I've reached the age that I deserve tranquillity. The Israel Defense Forces were alleged to have used the trees as targeting markers during the Six-Day War, which enabled Israel to capture the Golan Heights in two days. In January 1965, Syrian security services broke into Eli's apartment, where he was caught while he was escaping to Israel. 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. It, however, did not change the situation. I send you my last kisses to you and to the children: Sophie, Irit, and Shaoul, and to the rest of my family, especially my mother. "I have passed your response to our partners and am waiting for a reply," said the agent. To no avail. [8], Cohen was found guilty of espionage by a military tribunal and sentenced to death under martial law. On January 24, 1965, Syrian intelligence broke into his home in the middle of a transmission. Using Biton, Israel "fed" Egypt with false intelligence that reportedly contributed to the Six Day War victory.