Eli Cohen

Eli Cohen was born in 1924 in Alexandria

Eli Cohen was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1924 to a Jewish family whose roots were in Aleppo. He studied at a Jewish high school in Alexandria and was a member of the Maccabi youth movement. He spoke Arabic, Hebrew, English, French and Spanish.

In Egypt he helped Zionist activity and Israeli covert efforts among the local Jews. Egyptian authorities questioned him during the investigation of the Lavon Affair cell, but he was cleared. After the 1956 Suez Crisis he left Egypt and settled in Bat Yam, where he married Nadia, the sister of author Sami Michael, in 1959.

In Israel he worked as a translator and analyst in military intelligence, and later as a clerk. In 1960 he was recruited to Unit 188 and trained as a spy. In 1961 he went to Argentina under the name Kamel Amin Thabet, posing as a Syrian businessman.

In 1962 he moved to Damascus and befriended Syrian political and military figures. He sent Israel information on the Syrian army, its positions in the Golan Heights and plans to divert the Jordan River headwaters. Some experts argued that the Golan data was also available from other reconnaissance.

In January 1965 Syrian security services detected his radio transmissions and arrested him. He was tried, sentenced to death and publicly hanged in Damascus on 18 May 1965. Syria has refused to return his body to Israel.