eli cohen children

Qudsi was ousted from power as a result of the March 8 coup, but Hafiz did not take power until months later. 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. They had three childrenSophie, Irit, and Shaiand the family settled in Bat Yam. 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. On May 15, 1965, Eli wrote a final letter to Nadia, requesting her not to mourn his death and stating that she should hold her head high, as her husband had done nothing wrong. He returned home to his family only a few times during his mission. Irit does not know her father. He soon became accepted, well-liked, and respected, and made contacts with politicians, diplomats and military officials working out of the Syrian Embassy. He had three brothers. He worked as an accountant and translator. For his loyalties, Hafiz grooms Thaabet to be deputy defense minister in his government. Sacha Baron Cohen, the Mossad and Netflix. This coincided with the continuance of Palestinian terrorist infiltrators arriving from the Syrian border, along with a continual flow of Soviet technical assistance to Syria. Israel's minister of defense Pinhas Lavon and colonel Benyamin Gibli head of military intelligence, concocted a dangerous and foolish plan if several terrorist bombings were swept Egypt, the British will return to its former bases and concluded that Egypt's couldn't maintain law and order. I beg you my dear Nadia do not spend your life weeping for what has passed. 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. He says the spies wanted him to try and talk to his father's close friends or provide insight. Eli had lost his friends, in 1957 he immigrates to Israel. He was interrogated and tortured. If I wanted something, I called, they put me through to him immediately. On 29 December 2022, Cohen was sworn in as Foreign Minister alongside a new government, and will rotate the position with Israel Katz. Already a member? 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. After the Israel Independence War In 1954, the British pull out of Egypt completely. 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? Eli was, however, taken in by 'Mossad' when Director-General Meir Amit was in search of a special agent to infiltrate the Syrian government. Concentrate on yourself; look forward to a better future! One day they took Eli to visit the Syrian positions along Israel's border. Show creator Gideon Raff's limited series has brought renewed attention to the life and work of Eli Cohen. Al-Gamal, for his part, adopted the Jewish identity of Jacques Biton and immigrated to Israel from France on the orders of Egyptian intelligence. As Intelligence Chief Meir Amit said, Eli succeeded far beyond the capabilities of most other men.. A year later your sister dies.in 1947 all of you arrived in Argentina. Eli studied at a local Jewish community school and then attended the 'University of Alexandria' to study electrical engineering. The Spy alternates between Cohens risky schemes with Nadias far more ordinary life. 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. Despite being away from home for months at a time, he fathered three children, Sophie, Irit and Shai. "I want to ask wasn't Eli worth the price? Once Cohen had established his background, he was inserted into the "target country," Syria, and operated with great success for four years until his capture. "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. She smiles. Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Spy. But changes were taking place in the Syrian Government that alarmed Eli. He was a legend," I declare. Elis larger-than-life persona has attracted many filmmakers, who have then used his story for their projects. Eli Cohen, Israels most famous spy, also happened to be a hopeless romantic. To establish his cover, Cohen moved to Buenos Aires in 1961. Nadia Cohen, widow of executed Israeli spy Eli Cohen, speaks to Channel 2 on September 20, 2016 after Syrian opposition forces release new video showing moments after he was hanged in. 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.". 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. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the Israeli ambassador, Itzhak Gerberg, would not comment on the report. For four years, Cohen posed as a Syrian textile businessman named Kamal Amin Thabet, first in Argentina and later in Damascus. also learned to identify the type and age of tanks, aircraft, and cannons. [11] Start with Mossad [ edit] Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel, 2023 The Times of Israel , All Rights Reserved, Sophie Ben-Dor (Screen capture: Channel 12 News), This undated photo shows Israeli spy Eli Cohen in Syria wearing a wristwatch recovered by the Mossad in 2018. Egyptian authorities uncovered the spy ring and sentenced two of the members to death. 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.". But what happened next apparently deviates from the way it appears in the show. For a while, Cohen tried his hand at civilian life. In November 1965, Eli's wife wrote to Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad, requesting him to send Elis remains back to Israel. At this time the Ba'ath Party was illegal in Syria but the party seized power in 1963. 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.. Israeli foreign minister Golda Meir led a campaign urging Damascus to consider the consequences of hanging him. [8] His most famous achievement was the tour of the Golan Heights in which he collected intelligence on the Syrian fortifications there. The new Ba'ath government initially installed Lu'ay al-Atassi as president in March 1963. 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. he soon became a well-known figure in the Arab circle. Unfortunately, Nadia and her family are still waiting to get Elis body and have not made peace with it. The president was ousted from power a year later in 1966. Its unfamiliar to me, this form of expression in a global television series. Reports earlier this year said a Russian delegation had removed his remains from Syria in an attempt to bring them to 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. Al-Gamal was born in 1927 and aspired to become an actor. 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 . How is it that you dare allow a stranger to read a classified document? he angrily asked Saif. 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. He was supposed to stay in Buenos Aires as a Syrian migr businessman named Kamal Amin Taabet. The transmissions became longer as well. In February 1961 one man handed him an Israeli passport in his real name and a plane ticket to Zurich.on his arrival, Eli was met by a white-haired man who gave him a passport from another name, that passport carried an entry visa to chile and a transit visa to Argentina. The Spy, which was released Friday, tells the story of Cohen, who spied for Israel in Syria during the 1960s, providing valuable intelligence that was said to have greatly assisted the Israeli military in the 1967 Six Day War. Kamal Amin Tabet hosted a glamorous party in Damascus, several ministers, a large number of general and colonel, top leaders of the Baath party, businessmen. 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. In March 1963, General Hafez, Eli's friend was appointed minister of defense in salah Al-Birat's cabinet. Israel could not survive without Jordan's water. Despite this, however, Israeli intelligence asked him to return to Syria one more time. Eli's handlers were continually persuading him to return. The execution was recorded on 35mm film. [4], Cohen provided an extensive amount and wide range of intelligence data for the Israeli Army between 1961 and 1965. A memorial stone has been erected in the 'Garden of the Missing Soldiers' in Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, to commemorate him. He was driven to the airport, where his wife Nadia saw him off. But the series did not give al-Gamal enough credit, she said, and this led her to reveal his memoirs, which he wrote in secret and deposited with a lawyer for safekeeping. When the Baath took power in 1963, Eli was firmly entrenched in Syrian high society. Eli was caught in the act and there was nothing he could do. In 1960, Cohen was recruited to be part of a dangerous mission to Syria. Cohen was arrested in January 1965 while transmitting to his handlers. 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. Cohen went undercover in Syria as Kamel Amin Thaabet in the early 1960s, aligned himself with key military and government personnel and fed intel back to Israel. The newly appointed Syrian intelligence colonel, Ahmed Su'edani, disliked Eli. For a while, Cohen tried his hand at civilian life. Do you rely on The Times of Israel for accurate and insightful news on Israel and the Jewish world? 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. While working as an intelligence officer offer him a job with high pay, Eli didn't say no and become a secret agent. This article was originally published in May 2005 and republished to coincide with the release of "The Spy" - a Netflix series about Eli Cohen's life. And much of the credit for Israels ability to capture the Golan was due to Eli Cohen, Israels greatest spy. In December 1956, the Jewish Agency assisted Eli to deport to Israel in a vessel. 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. For the next two years, he worked as a filing clerk in a Tel Aviv insurance office. He was stunned by the precision of the Israeli bombing during the 1964 attack. Registering also lets you comment on articles and helps us improve your experience. Nadia believed it and went to see him off at the airport in 1961. He would entertain high-ranking politicians and military officials at extravagant parties where there would be many women and lots of booze. Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur, Defense Minister Ezer Weizmann, and many Mossad officials attended Eli's son's bar mitzvah in 1977. I give you my blessing. The commenter agrees to the privacy policy of Ynet News and agrees not to submit comments that violate the. [8], Israel's secret police recruited a sabotage unit of Jewish Egyptian citizens in 1955 which attempted to undermine Egypt's relationships with western powers in the "Lavon Affair". 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. Another tutor trained him to speak Arabic. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Cohen had aided the unit and was implicated, but they found no link between him and the perpetrators. Cohen was publicly hanged in the Marjeh Square in Damascus on 18 May 1965. His final visit was in 1964. It, however, did not change the situation. 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. 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. He reminded me of my father sometimes, she added. "This cooperation brings significant benefits to New Zealand's national security, we help them (Mossad), and they help us," they added. 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. This is adefinitive andfinal verdict. children: Irit Cohen, Shai Cohen, Sophie Cohen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxhaPGREa74. 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. In January 1965, Syrian security officers broke into Elis apartment while he was in the middle of his escape to Israel. 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. Israel attacked the project serval time later they abandon the project in 1965. when you were three, your family left Lebanon and moved to Egypt Alexandria. Some attributed this to a sense of cockiness (despite the fears he had expressed in November 1964), due to the ability and ease he had moved about in the highest echelons of Syrian power. In 1963, during a business trip to Germany, he met Weltrude Scheffeldt, a divorcee, then 22 and with a small child, and married her. I don't want to go to my death longing for my Eli to rest in the soil of the land that he loved and for which he gave his life. 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. ", "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. Eli Cohen was first sent to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to establish his cover as a Syrian emigre. 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. In 1960, the national intelligence agency of Israel, 'Mossad,' approached Eli for a classified mission in Syria. Cohen's astonishing undercover career lasted for four years. In February 2007, a Turkish official assured assistance to Eli's family to get back his body. He became a confidante of George Saif, high up in the Ministry of Information. 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. 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. At the same time, Israeli officials devised escape schemes and appealed to international organizations. "Sophie's. His successes couldn't be vocally shared with his family, however. The Kinneret supplies Israel with most of its water needs. Eli has been honored as an Israeli national hero, and many streets and neighborhoods have been named after him. Nine months later, in late 1961, Eli came back to Israel for a visit with his wife Nadia. Today, one can see the former Syrian bunkers that remain on the Golan Heights from 1967 (as well as the tanks from 1973). [4] His father had moved there from Aleppo in 1914. Cohen accepted the calling. The previous year, which marked Elis 50th death anniversary, Nadia had addressed a memorial dedicated to him. A number were only released 14 years later, after the 1967 War. Nadia, understandably, has remained fixated on her loss. After some months, Abdel Latif Hassan introduces Eli to General Amin El-Hafez, the military attache at the embassy. On September 20, 2016, an unknown Syrian group named 'Syrian Art Treasures' posted a 'Facebook' video showing Eli's body after his execution. Eliyahu (Eli) Cohen, an Egyptian Jew, was born in Alexandria in 1924. 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.. One of the ministrys directors entered the room unannounced. For as little as $6/month, you will: Were really pleased that youve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/eli-cohen-16869.php. He arrived in Israel on February 8, 1957. While there are reports that Cohen hosted parties that would devolve into orgies at his apartment, in order to gain the trust of high-level people in power, there's no concrete evidence that he played a role in the March 1963 coup. They even started to organize a ceremony for Eli at the 'Mossad' headquarters in Glilot. From 1961 to 1965, Eli transmitted crucial intelligence data, including that of the Golan Heights, to the Israeli army. Still Ben-Dor, who was four years old when her father was killed, said she was pleasantly surprised by actor Cohens portrayal. The children could not react to Eli's absence. Eli did go back to Syria, but his behavior changed. His widow mentioned that the watch was up for sale months earlier, and Mossad managed to capture it. [7][9] The Israel Defense Forces recruited him in 1957 and placed him in military intelligence, where he became a counter-intelligence analyst. In exchange for his freedom, he agreed to work for Egypt's intelligence service. In the 1970s, they left Israel for Germany and in 1982, al-Gamal, alias Jacques Biton, died of an illness. Intelligence created a completely new identity for him. 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. So now we have a request. In the interview, she said that her husband left behind memoirs, notes and other evidence. had 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. A devout Jew, Cohen wore tefillin during prayer, in his youth he planned of becoming a Rabbi with the backup of Moise Ventura (1893-1978), Chief Rabbi of Alexandria but the Rabbinical School closed down. Cohen would pretend to be drunk to encourage such conversations, to which he paid close attention. In Episode 5, Maurice puts the clues together when he covers for the regular analyst that communicates with Cohen using Morse code. What is perhaps most amazing about Eli Cohen is that he was genuinely liked even loved by so many of the top Syrian leaders. [27] Syrian authorities have repeatedly denied family requests for the remains. [9], In 1959, he married Nadia Majald, born circa 1935,[10] an Iraqi-Jewish immigrant and the sister of author Sami Michael. To no avail. But his knowledge of. "He began writing the number but stopped abruptly and, looking flushed and flustered, mumbled under his breath about needing to run out to the supermarket before it closed. 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. Despite her criticism of the series, Ben-Dor said she understood why the shows creators took artistic license with her fathers story. 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. Eli was friends with two highly placed Army officers, Colonels Hatoum and Dali, who were fully informed about the scheme. I beg you my dear Nadia do not spend your life weeping for what has passed. Eli Cohen's son, Shaul, was only 2 weeks old when he last saw his father. He sent intelligence to Israel by radio, secret letters, and occasionally in person; he secretly traveled to Israel three times. become close friends. Over the years, Nadia has made several efforts to seek a bit of mercy from Syrian officials. He was hanged on May 18, 1965. Were they not interested? Cohen's brothers Abraham and Maurice led a campaign to return his remains; Maurice died in 2006, and Nadia now leads it. It hurt. in Israel, he found the job of translating weekly and monthly magazines for a man after a few months he was fired. one evening he met one gentleman, Abdel Latif Hassan, editor in chief of Arab world magazine publish in Argentina. But in 2018, Cohens watch was retrieved in a secret Mossad scheme. Haaretz.com, the online English edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, gives you breaking news, analyses and opinions about Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. Eli told Nadia that he got a job with a company that works with defense and foreign ministries, he needs to travel to Europe to buy tools and equipment, and materials for Israel's military. She also said she understood and respected the show. At Kfar Habad, on July 29, 1977, at the joint Bar Mitzvah for 100 fatherless boys, in the presence of Prime Minister. Unlike other news outlets, we havent put up a paywall. "The moment that they informed me [of the watch's recovery] my mouth went dry and I got the chills," Nadia told Israeli TV. Eli Cohen provided an incredible amount of intelligence data to the Israeli Army over a period of three years. All these years, I remained faithful to him. His new friends introduced Eli to top government officials, senior army officers, and leaders of the ruling party. His first assignment was to infiltrate the Jewish community of Alexandria. He carefully cultivated contacts with the Baath leadership, which included the Syrian military attach in Argentina, General Amin al-Hafaz. "Their ages range from four and a half to 32." "You must be very proud," I offer. 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. His graduate report stated that he had all the qualities needed to become a katsa, or field agent. 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. He worked as an accountant and translator. 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. According to Scheffeldt, Cohen and al-Gamal were arrested together in 1954 and released shortly after. Cohen was then informed that Mossad had decided to recruit him and underwent an intensive six-month course at the Mossad training school.

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