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A man hunches over a radio; he speaks softly, but clearly and urgently.
He’s provided vital information to his handlers as he had done many times before, but this
time he is exhausted.
He is tired of the intrigue.
He wants to go home to his wife and children.
Thank God this is his last mission…. then his heart stutters as the door to his apartment
bursts open and the room swarms with Syrian secret police.
They beat him and drag him away.
This is how Mossad agent Eli Cohen’s successful career as an Israeli spy came to an abrupt
end.
On December 26, 1924 Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen, commonly known Eli Cohen, was born in Alexandria,
Egypt, into a large, devout Syrian Jewish immigrant family.
Young Eli received his primary education at a local Jewish community school.
He had an aptitude for languages and learned Hebrew, Arabic, English, and French.
In January of 1947, 22 year old Eli tried to enlist in the Egyptian Army as an alternative
to paying the prescribed sum all young Jews were obliged to pay, but the authorities were
suspicious and he was declared ineligible on grounds of questionable loyalty.
Eli then studied electrical engineering at the University of Alexandria.
During his time there, he was heavily involved in student protests against Egypt's occupation
by the British.
Eventually, he had to drop out of school due to harrassment from the Muslim Brootherhood
and continue his studies at home.
This gave Eli more time to involve himself in clandestine Zionist activites.
When Israel declared independence in 1948, Eli’s family moved to the newly established
country.
Eli stayed behind in Egypt to complete his studies and also to continue his risky activist
work with Jewish and Zionist underground groups.
Eli took part in various Israeli covert operations in Egypt during the early 1950s, including
Operation Goshen, or helping to smuggle Jews out of Egypt and repatriate them to Israel.
It’s thought that Eli was also involved in the 1954 Lavon Affair, an Israeli military
intelligence conspiracy which planted bombs to stage false flag attacks on Egyptian, American
and British civilian targets and blame it on radicals to convince Britain to continue
its occupation of the Suez Canal zone.
In 1954, Eli was arrested by the Egyptian police and charged with being involved in
a terrorist cell.
However, due to lack of evidence, the authorities couldn’t make the charges stick and Eli
managed to escape punishment.
After the Suez Crisis in October of 1956, Eli was deported to Israel along with thousands
of other Egyptian Jews.
Eli arrived in Israel on February 8, 1957.
He was recruited by the Israel Defense Forces and became a counterintelligence analyst.
Eli attempted to join the Mossad, but was initially rejected.
In 1959, he married Nadia Majald, an Iraqi-Jewish immigrant.
They had three children, Sophie, Irit and Shai.
In 1960, the Mossad recruited Eli when looking for a special agent to infiltrate the Syrian
government.
Eli underwent a several month-long intensive training course at the Mossad instruction
school.
He learned basic spy skills, including high-speed evasive driving techniques, weapons proficiency,
cartography, sabotage, photography and film development, encryption and, most importantly,
radio transmissions and cryptography.
Probably the most difficult thing for Eli to master was the phonetic sound of Syrian
Arabic; prior to his intelligence training, he spoke Arabic with an Egyptian accent.
Throughout his training, instructors noted Eli’s charisma, amazing memory and ability
to memorize intricate details.
Eli was then given the false identity of 'Kamel Amin Thaabet', a Syrian businessman who was
returning to Syria after living abroad in Argentina.
To establish his backstory, Eli moved to Argentina in 1961.
Within a few months, Eli had picked up Spanish and grown familiar with the capital Buenos
Aires.
Per his mission to infiltrate the Arab diaspora, Eli got himself invited to various social
engagements hosted by the community.
He earned a reputation as lavish spender and quickly insinuated into himself into Argentinian
Syrian elite society.
Eli spent time in cafes surreptitiously listening to political gossip.
He also held wild parties at his home for high-placed Syrian ministers and businessmen.
At these parties intoxicated officials would talk freely of their work and army plans.
Eli would feign drunkenness, but remain sober and listen carefully.
The consummate host, Eli also loaned money to his government officials ‘friends’
and gave advice.
Eli was able to gain access to receptions hosted by the Syrian Embassy and eventually
met General Amin Hafiz, Syria's military attaché to Argentina.
Eli widely proclaimed that he would like to return to Syria to support the development
of his home country.
To prepare for his ‘homecoming’, Eli secretly traveled to Israel via Zurich, meeting up
with his family and studying up on Syria.
His father had recently died and he was able to mourn his death with his family.
With help from an associate, Eli went to the Syrian border via Lebanon, where he bribed
a border guard and entered the country.
In 1962, Eli settled in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
He used his contacts gained in Argentina to mingle in the upper echelons of Syrian society.
Eli or Kamel Amin Thaabet as he was known, enjoyed a friendship with General Hafiz, who
had become the Syrian president during a coup in 1963.
It is often said that Eli stood a chance of becoming Syria's deputy defense minister,
and that he was even considered for the position of Prime Minister.
However this story is denied by Syrian political experts.
They feel it’s a rumor spread by Israeli intelligence to create the image of an omnipotent
organization able to manipulate political or military situations worldwide.
In later years, General Hafiz also denied a close relationship with Kamel/Eli.
Whether or not Eli could have become Prime Minister, he was able to infiltrate into the
highest circles of Syrian politics.
With those in his social circle speaking freely around him and his intelligence gathering,
Eli was able to transmit by radio or send to by secret letter to Tel Aviv invaluable
and extensive details about the political, economic and military situation in Syria over
a four year period from 1961 to 1965.
Eli even secretly traveled to Israel three times.
Especially beneficial to Israel was the information Eli obtained about Syria's military cooperation
with Iraq and secret deals about Soviet arms supplied to Syrian troops.
Eli also uncovered Syria's plans to divert the flow of the Jordan River to deprive Israel
of a main source of freshwater.
However Eli’s most famous achievement was touring the Golan Heights and collecting intelligence
on the Syrian artillery and military fortifications.
He actually managed to shoot photos of the security and defense preparations with a tiny
secret camera produced by Israeli and U.S. intelligence.
Pretending sympathy for the soldiers exposed to the sun, Eli suggested that trees be planted
at every position as cover.
The trees were then used as bombing targets by the Israeli military during the Six-Day
War.
Eli’s information enabled Israel to nimbly win skirmishes.
As a result, the Six-Day war ended with Israel's occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip,
the Golan Heights and the entire Sinai Peninsula.
In 1964, Eli was able to provide the Mossad with detailed intel about Syrian defense plans
at Quneitra City located in the occupied Golan Heights.
By now, Syrian intelligence was very aware that they had a high level mole in their ranks.
Newly appointed Syrian Intelligence commander Colonel Ahmed Su'edani was suspicious of everyone
and disliked Eli.
While on his final secret visit to Israel in November 1964 to provide intelligence and
witness the birth of his third child, Eli expressed fear of discovery to his handlers.
He wished to terminate his spying assignment in Syria.
The Mossad convinced Eli to return to Syria one final time.
Before leaving, Eli assured his wife that this was the last mission before he returned
to Israel permanently.
Meanwhile, Syrian intelligence was focused on finding the spy.
Using Soviet tracking equipment and assisted by hired Soviet experts, the Syrians promoted
a period of radio silence.
Large amounts of illegal radio transmissions were detected and traced to their source.
On January 24, 1965 Syrian security services raided Eli’s apartment, catching him red
handed in the middle of transmitting to Israel.
While the true events are shrouded in secrecy and perhaps even lost to history, there are
several reasons Eli was caught.
Some authorities at the Mossad claimed that over time Eli became careless with his transmissions;
sometimes choosing to transmit multiple times a day and often at the same time each day,
etc. making it easy for police to track him down.
Egyptian intelligence claimed that they identified Eli as an Israeli spy after noticing him in
a photo of a personnel meeting between Syrian and Egyptian general staff taken in the Golan
Heights.
Also, in the early 1960s, Syrian counterintelligence began tracking two Syrians believed to be
working for the CIA.
During months of observation, it was noted that both suspects were frequent guests at
Eli’s apartment.
These spies were detained in late 1964, after which Eli came under surveillance.
Lastly, there is some evidence that Eli believed that a friend betrayed him for a cash payment.
Eli was detained by Syrian authorities, then imprisoned and tortured while being interrogated.
A military tribunal quickly found him guilty of espionage and sentenced him to death under
martial law.
Israel staged a campaign for clemency, urging the international community to protest and
hopefully persuade the Syrian government to commute the death sentence.
Diplomats, to include representatives of the governments of France, Belgium and Canada
and even Pope Paul VI tried to intercede, but to no avail.
On May 15, 1965, Eli wrote a final letter to his wife saying “...I am begging you
my dear Nadia not to spend your time in weeping about something already passed.
Concentrate on yourself, looking forward for a better future!”
Eli was publically hung before a crowd of thousands on May 18, 1965 in Marjeh Square
in Damascus.
The execution was shown live on TV and Eli’s body was left to hang for six hours.
In Israel, Eli Cohen is considered a national hero and the most successful spy in the country's
history.
His priceless intel saved soldiers’ lives and helped Israeli war efforts.
Several streets and neighborhoods have been named for him.
Since his death, members of Eli’s family have campaigned for Syria to return his remains.
Over fifty years on, the Syrians have refused to return Eli’s body home to Israel.
Some see it as a final snub from a still bitter Syrian government, while others claim the
request has been denied because the Syrian government doesn’t actually know Eli’s
whereabouts anymore.
Due to the initial publicity, his body was moved and reburied several times.
Today, a memorial stone stands in Eli Cohen’s honor in the Garden of the Missing Soldiers
in Mount Herzl, Jerusalem.
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Do you think you would make a good spy?
Why or why not?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video Who Were the Most Successful Spies of All
Time!
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See you next time!”