Israel has been involved in a bloody conflict with Hamas in Gaza since the horrific terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Following that, Israel also faced attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon, and that conflict led to the displacement of thousands and thousands of people on both side of the border. However, one Israeli border remained fairly quiet during this period (well, as quiet a border as Israel can expect), the one with Syria. Much of the credit for keeping Israel safe from that side goes to one of the most famous spies in the world, and Mossad’s greatest ever spy. His name was Eli Cohen.
From Israel’s creation in 1948 till 1967, Syrian border was one of the biggest headaches for Israel, as Syrian forces rained mortar shells on Jewish settlements of Upper Galilee region from Syria occupied Golan Heights. The geographical advantage that Syria had meant Israelis living in the area were always under threat of Syrian fire. All that changed in 1967 after the six-day war when Israel occupied most of the Golan Heights, and seized full control of the region in 2024. A crucial role in Israel’s victory that led to them controlling Golan Heights was played by Eli Cohen, this is about the incredible life journey of that spy.
Early life in Egypt
Eli Cohen was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on December 6, 1924, to a family of Mizrahi Jews. His parents were originally from Aleppo in present day Syria. His father had emigrated to Egypt in 1914. Since his early years, Cohen was a firm believer in Zionism and wanted the establishment of a Jewish state.
Cohen was fluent in several languages, like Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, French, and English. During his time in Egypt, he helped several Jews to escape Egypt and reach the newly created state of Israel.
His parents and his 3 brothers moved to Israel in 1949, however, he stayed behind to help the remaining Egyptian Jews in the country. He was also allegedly involved in ‘Operation Goshen’ by Israeli Defense Forces that led to the evacuation of several Egyptian Jews from the country. However, Egyptian authorities could never prove his involvement in that. He also allegedly was involved in Israel’s disastrous ‘Lavon Affair’ operation, but again, Egyptian authorities could never prove his involvement.
Throughout the 1950s, Eli Cohen was involved in raising support for Israel among the Jewish population of Egypt.
Move to Israel
Following the Suez crisis of 1956, Eli Cohen eventually moved to Israel. When Israel occupied the Sinai peninsula during the war, 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. He arrived in Israel on February 8, 1957.
After arriving in Israel, Cohen started working as a translator in Military Intelligence, and later worked as an accountant. He applied for Israeli Intelligence Agency Mossad twice, but was rejected after they found during his evaluation that he has an exaggerated sense of self-importance and a lot of internal tension. They also concluded that he is likely to take unnecessary risks.
Eli Cohen married an Iraqi born Jew, Nadia Majald, on August 31, 1959. The couple went on to have 3 children together.
Meanwhile, in 1960, Mossad took another look at Eli Cohen’s file, having rejected him earlier, as the border with Syria was heating up. Cohen’s Syrian ancestry, and his proficiency in several languages made him perfect to enter Syria as a Mossad spy. And thus was born Kamel Amin Thaabet, the Syrian businessman.
Eli Cohen had to undergo an intensive 6 months training with Mossad first before he could be deployed in the field. During the training, Cohen was taught high-speed evasive driving techniques, Weapons proficiency, topography, map reading, sabotage, and, radio transmissions and cryptography.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Since Cohen or Thaabet as he had become by then, couldn’t be directly sent to Syria without arousing suspicion, he was first sent to Buenos Aires in Argentina. The country had a thriving Syrian expatriate population, and was considered the right place for Cohen to develop relationships with Syrians.
At home, Cohen told his wife and family that he will be working for the Ministry of Defense of Israel, and will be away from home a lot, to try and explain his long disappearances that were inevitably going to take place now.
Eli Cohen was given a fake biography, Kamal Amin Thaabet was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Syrian Muslim parents. His father’s name was Amin Thaabet, and his mother’s Sadia Ibrahim. According to his fictional biography, in 1948 their family moved to Argentina, where they opened a successful textile business. As per his fake identity, both his parents were dead and as an only child, he inherited the business.
Thaabet was also being asked to pretend to be a staunch Syrian nationalist who just wanted to return to his homeland of Syria.
Soon, the wealthy Thaabet became a regular feature on the social scene of Buenos Aires as the wealthy businessman who just desired to return to Syria. Cohen made contacts with politicians, diplomats and military officials working out of the Syrian Embassy in Buenos Aires. Among them was Amin al-Hafiz from the Ba’ath party, who would later go on to become the President of Syria. This contact was going to serve Cohen well during his spying operation in Damascus.
Move to Syria
Eli Cohen eventually moved to Syria in February 1962 under his alias Kamal Amin Thaabet. Once in Damascus, Cohen lived on Al Mahdi Ibn Barakeh Street in Abu Rummaneh, an area with several embassies and important government offices.
At that time, Ba’ath Party was slowly becoming more and more powerful in Syria, and expecting them to gain control of the country soon, Cohen developed good relationships with the Ba’ath leadership.
While in Damascus, Cohen held lavish parties at his home where influential Syrian ministers, businessmen, and military officials would come and enjoy themselves. Apparently, several of these parties descended into orgies. Intoxicated officials used to talk freely about classified information related to their work, and a sober Cohen would listen to all this carefully.
The Ba’ath Party seized power in Syria in 1963, and Cohen’s ‘trusted friend’ from Argentina, General Amin al Hafiz became the President of the country. This further entrenched Cohen into the corridors of power in Syria.
Cohen would regularly return to Israel via a circuitous route to be with his family, and also to relay important information about Syria to Israeli officials in person. Most of the information he was sharing via radio transmissions from Damascus.
Vital information that Eli Cohen shared that helped Israel
During his several years’ long stay in Syria, Eli Cohen helped Israel immensely by providing them classified information from Syria.
Syrian authorities had conceptualised a project to divert water from the headwaters of the Jordan away from Israel and deprive the Jewish nation of the much needed water. Through his Army contacts, Eli Cohen came to know about all the details of the project. Cohen informed Israeli forces that a channel was being dug in Syria to receive the diverted flow of the Baniyas River from Jordan. After receiving this information, Israeli Air Force Due bombed and destroyed all the equipment being used for this project thwarting Syrian plans.
However, the most significant information Eli Cohen provided Israel came from Golan Heights. He visited the heavily militarised area of Golan Heights, which was under Syrian control at the time, and observed the locations and the strength of the Syrian fortifications there. It is said that he also recommended planting trees next to each bunker in Golan Heights to provide some shade to the soldiers stationed there. However, that claim hasn’t been verified.
What is verified, however, is that, the information Eli Cohen gathered during his visit to Golan Heights, helped Israeli forces pinpoint the location of the Syrian bunkers in Golan Heights. This information helped Israel target these Syrian posts during the war of 1967 and destroy them, and take Golan Heights away from Syria, ensuring peace in Norther Israel along Syrian border.
Eli Cohen’s capture and subsequent execution
Because of the frequent leakage of Syria’s defense secrets to Israel, Syrian authorities had started suspecting that there is an Israeli spy in Damascus. They eventually caught Eli Cohen in his apartment in January 1965 while he was in the middle of trasmitting a message to Israel.
The reasons why Cohen eventually got outed and was captured vary. Some say he started transmitting radio messages to Israel too frequently, some say he was too careless and started messaging at a fixed time every time which helped Syrian authorities track him down.
However, David Barnea, the current head of Israeli agency Mossad shared in 2022 that Eli Cohen was captured “simply because his transmissions were intercepted and triangulated by the enemy.”
Notably, Syria had started using Soviet supplied tracking equipment at that time, and were assisted by Soviet experts. This expertise was used by the commander of Syrian Intelligence, Colonel Ahmed Suidani, who had always disliked Eli Cohen. So Cohen was most likely bested by the better technology of the time.
Several accounts say that Cohen was in line to become the next Deputy Minister of Defense of Syria at the time. Syrian authorities have denied it, understandably, following the embarrassment that an Israeli spy could rise so high in Damascus.
Arrest and execution
After Eli Cohen was arrested from his apartment red-handed, he was subjected to brutal torture by his Syrian captors. However, he didn’t reveal any information about Israel despite the inhuman torture.
Syria at least had the decency to pretend to have a trial for Cohen, where he was obviously found guilty and sentenced to death.
Cohen’s wife Nadia pleaded with several world leaders to save him, several leaders, including the Pope stepped in to try and save him, but Syria was too embarrassed that they let this spy climb so high in Syria, they couldn’t let this go. On May 18, 1965, the greatest Israeli Spy was hanged to death.
Eli Cohen Legacy
Eli Cohen may have died on that day in 1965, but his legacy will continue to inspire Israelis. Many streets and neighbourhoods have been named after Cohen in the Jewish country. He remains an inspiration for generations of Mossad agents, and is widely recognised as the greatest Mossad spy ever, and one of the greatest ever to have worked in the field.
Israel retrieves Eli Cohen’s items from Syria in a covert operation
60 years after Cohen’s hanging, Mossad brought back the official archive on Eli Cohen to Israel from Syria. As per statement by the Israeli PM’s office, thousands of findings that were held for decades by the Syrian security forces in a highly compartmentalized manner, were brought to Israel in a covert and complex Mossad operation. The statement added that the mission was completed in cooperation with an allied foreign intelligence service, without naming it.
This just emphasises that Israel never forgets its heroes, and was definitely not going to forget one of its greatest ones.
Netflix series ‘The Spy’ was based on Eli Cohen’s incredible career
