According to Scheffeldt, Cohen and al-Gamal were arrested together in 1954 and released shortly after. Nadia, however, never remarried. 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. This version contradicts that of Israel's secret service. Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Defense Minister Ezer Weizmann, Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur, and several Mossad operatives all attended his son's Bar Mitzvah in 1977. The information he had been providing them for years was too good to forego. Egypt has the strongest of the Arab countries and sworn enamy if Israel with the decision to evacuate Egypt, modern bases, airfield, and huge stores of equipment and war material would fall into the Egyptian army. The execution was broadcast on Syrian television. Eventually, they had three children: Sophie Ben-Dor, Irit Peleg, and Shai Cohen. ", "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. In exchange for his freedom, he agreed to work for Egypt's intelligence service. "I am the son of the only person on this planet who knows where the remains are buried," he told Newshub in an interview. Recruitment into the Mossad. In 1954, the British pull out of Egypt completely. After a few months, Eli was visited by George Salem Seif, a radio show host in charge of radio Damascus broadcast for Syrian abord. In a February 2006 interview with Jewish Magazine, Maurice Cohen said that he informed his brother that he knew he was "our man in Damascus" in an intriguing way, rather than outright confronting him as seen in The Spy. Eli did go back to Syria, but his behavior changed. While working as an intelligence officer offer him a job with high pay, Eli didn't say no and become a secret agent. In 1949, his parents and three brothers moved to Israel while Eli remained in Egypt to coordinate Jewish and Zionist activities there. Thats why we started the Times of Israel ten years ago - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world. In February 2007, a Turkish official assured assistance to Eli's family to get back his body. Born Country:- Iraq Wife/Husband/Ex:- Eli Cohen (m. 1959-1965) Children:- Irit Cohen, Shai Cohen, Sophie Cohen Nadia Cohen is the widow of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who spied in Syria by posing as a wealthy merchant during the early 1960s before being caught and hanged to death publicly. Israel could be the target of an aggressive attack by a larger, better Egyptian army that wanted to avenge its shameful defect in the Israel Independence War. Nadia was told that Eli was working for the ministry of defense and would be completely safe. Cohen was born and raised in Egypt and was expelled to Israel in 1956. 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. one evening he met one gentleman, Abdel Latif Hassan, editor in chief of Arab world magazine publish in Argentina. While undercover in Argentina in The Spy, Cohen struggles to resist drafting her notes, even if it puts him in danger. For more than 50 years, Nadia has fought to have her husbands body returned to Israel. She once called her children and four grandchildren to her home in Herzliya, clicked a photo of them together, and sent it to Assad, congratulating him on the birth of his son, Bashar. For a while, Cohen tried his hand at civilian life. A year later your sister dies.in 1947 all of you arrived in Argentina. They had three children, Sophie, Irit, and Shai. It says this "does not imply any special relationship or endorsement". https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/nadia-cohen-46980.php. When the Baath took power in 1963, Eli was firmly entrenched in Syrian high society. [4] His father had moved there from Aleppo in 1914. "Concentrate on yourself; look forward to a better future!". One day Cohen was sitting in Saifs office reading a classified document while the Syrian was on the phone. I think as long as Bashar Assad is in power I dont see the word progress,' she said, referring to Syrias dictator. Cohen would pretend to be drunk to encourage such conversations, to which he paid close attention. At first, he refused. Syria has not even disclosed the location of Eli's grave. Scheffeldt, 63, is the widow of Rifa'at al-Gamal, an Egyptian spy who reportedly operated in Israel for a number of years. I beg you my dear Nadia do not spend your life weeping for what has passed. 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.. [31] A memorial stone has been erected to Cohen in the Garden of the Missing Soldiers in Mount Herzl, Jerusalem. "I was cooperating with the New Zealand Secret Intelligence Service, in cooperation with the Mossad, in order to help find the remains of the Israeli spy Eli Cohen," he said. 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. His remains have yet to be returned, despite pleas from his family. 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. Cohen wasnt allowed tell anyone of the plans and told his wife that he was working abroad for Israels Defense Ministry. He genuinely fit into life in the Syrian capital, and he was never suspected of being a spy until almost the very end. The alleged son says the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) contacted him two years ago believing he has clues to the secret location, which his father had apparently taken to the grave. At this time the Ba'ath Party was illegal in Syria but the party seized power in 1963. 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. Eli visited other Arab friends as Abdel Latif Hassan and his briefcase was full of enthusiastic letters of recommendation. He says the spies wanted him to try and talk to his father's close friends or provide insight. In 1957, Eli joined the Israel Defense Forces as a counterintelligence analyst and later applied for the Israeli intelligence agency 'Mossad,' which rejected him. After weeks of surveillance, he was finalized and was put to training. One day they took Eli to visit the Syrian positions along Israel's border. As a young adult, he worked within Egypt to secretly assist other Egyptian Jews in emigrating to Israel. - From Eli Cohen's last letter to his wife Nadia and his children, written an hour before his execution in Damascus. A New Zealander claiming to the son of a former Syrian president, says he knows the whereabouts of the executed Israeli spy's remains, according to a report on New Zealand news service Newshub on Sunday. [24], Following the 1963 Syrian coup d'tat, newly appointed Syrian Intelligence Colonel Ahmed Suidani disliked Cohen and did not trust figures close to the Second Syrian Republic. The previous year, which marked Elis 50th death anniversary, Nadia had addressed a memorial dedicated to him. The highly vigilant Russian security experts, equipped with very sensitive technical intelligence-gathering equipment, pinpointed the source of the transmissions in the Syrian capital and it was Elis home. Warning: This article contains spoilers for all six episodes of The Spy. [4], Cohen provided an extensive amount and wide range of intelligence data for the Israeli Army between 1961 and 1965. Eli has been honored as an Israeli national hero, and many streets and neighborhoods have been named after him. ", "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? Did you spend your weekend binge-watching Netflix's taut thriller, The Spy? 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 took on the name Kamel Amin Thaabet and went to live in Argentina for some time to build a name for himself in the Syrian expat community. With time he was taken even more into the confidence of the highest echelons of power. 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. 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. 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. On September 20, 2016, an unknown Syrian group named 'Syrian Art Treasures' posted a 'Facebook' video showing Eli's body after his execution. Al-Hafidh claims he was in negotiations with the Mossad to reveal the information, but wanted $1million for his services which the intelligence agency refused to pay. Last year, Israel was able to retrieve Cohens wristwatch from Syria and return it to his family. 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. In 1960, Cohen was recruited to be part of a dangerous mission to Syria. Once registered, youll receive our Daily Edition email for free. Intelligence created a completely new identity for him. 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. His work bored him and he attempted to join the Mossad, but he was offended when the Mossad rejected him, and he resigned from military counter-intelligence. [18], Cohen made repeated visits to the southern frontier zone, providing photographs and sketches of Syrian positions. Again, I. The Ba'athist coup and Eli Cohen's role. Because of that, perhaps he just tired of the whole charade. But he refused). - From Eli Cohen's last letter to his wife Nadia and his children, written an hour before his execution in Damascus. Even today Syria refuses to return his body for burial in Israel. [13][14] In Buenos Aires he moved among the Arab community, letting it be known he had large amounts of money to put at the disposal of the Syrian Ba'ath Party. After several days, Eli got a new identity as. The newly appointed Syrian intelligence colonel, Ahmed Su'edani, disliked Eli. Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Spy. By 1960, however, Israeli Intelligence was ready to take another look at Eli Cohen. The Syrians and their Russian advisers were alarmed by the intelligence that was seeping out of the country. Cohen wrote in his final letter on 15 May 1965:[7]. 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. Cohen was publicly hanged in the Marjeh Square in Damascus on 18 May 1965. [9], Syria refused to return Cohen's body to his family in Israel, and his wife Nadia sent a letter to Amin al-Hafiz in November 1965 asking his forgiveness for Cohen's actions and requesting his remains. Altogether, he returned to Israel three times between 1962 and 1965. On the day of his execution, his last wish to see a rabbi was respected by the prison authorities, and Nissim Indibo, the elderly Chief Rabbi of Syria, accompanied him in the truck. The Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, plans to name one of the buildings in its compound after Eli Cohen - its spy in Syria who was caught in Damascus, tried, convicted and executed 40 years ago. Eli was, however, taken in by 'Mossad' when Director-General Meir Amit was in search of a special agent to infiltrate the Syrian government. It could not let Syria succeed and planning a response. Eli Cohen's son, Shaul, was only 2 weeks old when he last saw his father. 4 Min Read. Ahead of the mission, Cohen had to learn to speak Arabic in a Syrian accent rather than his native Egyptian. [34], The Israeli settlement Eliad on the Golan Heights is named for him.[35]. As the Syrian Army officer explained to Eli the fortifications the Syrian Army had built, Eli suggested that the Syrians plant trees there to deceive the Israelis into thinking it was unfortified, as well as to provide shade and beauty for the soldiers stationed there. The commenter agrees to the privacy policy of Ynet News and agrees not to submit comments that violate the. Thanks". Foreign Minister Eli Cohen heads to Germany Tuesday as part of Israel's campaign to halt Iran's . Eli found out about Syria's secret plan to attack the Israeli defense forces. In order to capture the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War, Israeli soldiers had to knock out a number of well-fortified Syrian outposts. But within a month he had lost his Tel Aviv-based accountancy job. Al-Gamal, for his part, adopted the Jewish identity of Jacques Biton and immigrated to Israel from France on the orders of Egyptian intelligence. "The moment that they informed me [of the watch's recovery] my mouth went dry and I got the chills," Nadia told Israeli TV. 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. References ^ Eli Cohen Knesset ^ Eli Cohen Ministry of Economy and Industry ^ Kulanu list Central Elections Committee He did not object, in fact, to the idea of a ladies man reputation. But it . The husband hunters among the Damascus rich and influential flocked to the handsome Taabet, hoping that their almond eyes, Byzantine beauty, and olive skin would secure a future of wealth and power: He became the most sought-after bachelor in the Syrian capital. Maurice Cohen told his brother he had a new phone line installed in his house and "gave the number of his apartment in Damascus, which I had received in a message just before he'd come home.". One of them was Colonel Amin al-Hafaz, a supporter of the secular-leftist Baath party. Ben-Dor was pessimistic that Israel would soon be able to retrieve her fathers body from Syria. "It was all for good intentions. 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. In 1963, during a business trip to Germany, he met Weltrude Scheffeldt, a divorcee, then 22 and with a small child, and married her. Today, one can see the former Syrian bunkers that remain on the Golan Heights from 1967 (as well as the tanks from 1973). 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. Eli's wife Nadia, played by Hadar Ratzon Rotem, has to deal with raising two children without her husband, who disappears for up to a year at a time without being allowed to tell her what he's actually doing or even where he is. The film featured John Shea as Eli. He was convicted in a trial without a defense and sentenced to death. Eliyahu (Eli) Cohen, an Egyptian Jew, was born in Alexandria in 1924. In 1960, the national intelligence agency of Israel, 'Mossad,' approached Eli for a classified mission in Syria. 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. He was also allowed to write a final letter to his wife. Prior to the 1952 Egyptian Revolution, Cohen was arrested and interrogated over his Zionist activities. But what happened next apparently deviates from the way it appears in the show. At the end of 1961, Syria dissolved its union with Egypt, which had lasted a mere three years. 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. 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 hierarchy and became the chief adviser to the country's defense minister. Sacha Baron Cohen, the Mossad and Netflix. Eli Cohen was born in Egypt in 1924 to Jewish parents, who had migrated to Alexandria from Syria. Syria brought hydraulic engineers and diversion equipment to actualize the scheme. Following Israel's independence in 1949, when Jewish families were leaving Egypt, Eli stayed back to finish his electronics degree. Confused, he took the case to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, the official responsible for supervising New Zealand's two main intelligence agencies, telling him he could have solved the 53-year-old mystery. Its unfamiliar to me, this form of expression in a global television series. He returned home to his family only a few times during his mission. 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. Eli expressed his fear and wish to terminate his assignment in Syria during his last visit to Israel in November 1964. Elis connections enabled him to be taken to the Golan Heights a major strategic asset for Syria from 1948-67. There is always the risk that the agent remains loyal to his original handlers and has managed to fool his new bosses. His parents, Syrian Jews from the thriving town of Aleppo, had always instilled in their educationally minded son the traditions of the Jewish people, of Zionism, and of the culture of Syrias Jewish community, in particular.. He had been repeatedly interrogated and tortured. In his late teens, Cohen became an ardent Zionist and at the same time, as . Hes a trusted friend.. "It works with a range of international intelligence agencies,'' the NZSIS said in response. Al-Hafidh wanted a million dollars for his services, texting: "1M for the minimum for kick start. Click the link in that email to complete registration so you can comment. Eli Cohenalso learned to identify the type and age of tanks, aircraft, and cannons. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Text messages sent from an NZSIS agent called "Carl" appear to show him brokering a deal. On April 15, 2019, a few Israeli news agencies published unconfirmed reports of Eli's remains being recovered in Syria and stated that the remains were with a Russian delegation.
Thin Documentary Where Are They Now Brittany,
Equestrian Stockholm Saddle Pads,
Articles E