Scheffeldt, 63, is the widow of Rifa'at al-Gamal, an Egyptian spy who reportedly operated in Israel for a number of years. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/nadia-cohen-46980.php. 4 Min Read. The Kinneret supplies Israel with most of its water needs. The information he had been providing them for years was too good to forego. Eli found out about Syria's secret plan to attack the Israeli defense forces. By 1960, however, Israeli Intelligence was ready to take another look at Eli Cohen. In an interview with Newshub, Al-Hafidh now says he is willing to reveal the information without the financial reward, as long as the Cohen's relatives finally have their peace. Eli Cohen was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on December 26, 1924, the second of eight children in a family of orthodox Jews. 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. Nadia still holds a grudge against the 'Mossad' handlers who had sent Eli to Syria, an action that had taken him away from her, forever. He had been repeatedly interrogated and tortured. Cohen wasnt allowed tell anyone of the plans and told his wife that he was working abroad for Israels Defense Ministry. "- From Eli Cohen's last letter to his wife Nadia and his children, written an hour before his execution in Damascus. Look after them, raise them up and educate them well, and don't deprive them or yourself of anything. We may recall the Egyptian-Jewish spies from the Operation Susannah fiasco. Al-Gamal was born in 1927 and aspired to become an actor. Eli expressed his fear and wish to terminate his assignment in Syria during his last visit to Israel in November 1964. Spouse/Ex-: Eli Cohen (m. 1959-1965) children: Irit Cohen, Shai Cohen, Sophie Cohen Born Country: Iraq Family Members Iraqi Female Life with Eli Nadia (born Nadia Majald) is an Iraqi Jew who got married to Eli on August 31, 1959. On August 31, 1959, he married a beautiful Iraqi-born Jew, Nadia Majald. On January 25, 2000, Nadia presented a picture of a new postage stamp with Elis face, to Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, honoring her husband. Concentrate on yourself; look forward to a better future!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 motherPlease pray for my soul. 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. Years later, in February 2007, a Turkish official confirmed that the government had agreed to look into the matter of returning Eli's remains to his family. [30], Cohen has become a national hero in Israel, and many streets and neighborhoods have been named for him. "I have passed your response to our partners and am waiting for a reply," said the agent. The next day he comes to Hassan's office and admitted that he is sick and tired to live in Argentina, he wanted to go back to Syria, could he help him with a letter of recommendation? For the next two years, he worked as a filing clerk in a Tel Aviv insurance office. His first assignment was to infiltrate the Jewish community of Alexandria. One of the more famous aspects of his spying regarded a trip he took to the Golan Heights. "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. Eliyahu (Eli) Cohen, an Egyptian Jew, was born in Alexandria in 1924. On 29 December 2022, Cohen was sworn in as Foreign Minister alongside a new government, and will rotate the position with Israel Katz. Cohen was then informed that Mossad had decided to recruit him and underwent an intensive six-month course at the Mossad training school. But his knowledge of. He had three brothers. [7][9], Israel staged an international campaign for clemency, hoping to persuade the Syrians not to execute him. According to al-Gamal's version, he saw a photograph in an Arab newspaper at a newspaper stand in Frankfurt's train station that showed Amin Kamel Thabet touring fortifications on the Golan Heights with Syrian officers. In November 1964, Tel Dan Syria open fire on Israel tractors in the demilitarized zone. He was caught and sentenced to death. In 1949, his parents and three brothers moved to Israel while Eli remained in Egypt to coordinate Jewish and Zionist activities there. . In his late teens, Cohen became an ardent Zionist and at the same time, as . Eli studied at a local Jewish community school and then attended the 'University of Alexandria' to study electrical engineering. Nadia (born Nadia Majald) is an Iraqi Jew who got married to Eli on August 31, 1959. Nadia was told that Eli was working for the ministry of defense and would be completely safe. 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. Eli Cohen's daughter Sofia Ben-Dor was excited about it because that is all they have. 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. According to the report, Mossad agents were on their way to Auckland, with one text saying: "Wait for our partners to arrive before making a decision.". 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. But an interview published in the Cairo Times yesterday with the German-born Weltrude Scheffeldt-Biton suggests that Egyptian intelligence played the most important role in unmasking Cohen. Eli had to conceal the microfilm inexpensive boxes containing backgammon pieces .the music ornament could be dug out of the polished wood and reinserted after microfilm had been placed in the cavity. Israel has had a quiet northern border on the Golan with the exception of some occasional fallout from the Syrian civil war for more than 40years. also learned to identify the type and age of tanks, aircraft, and cannons. [4] His father had moved there from Aleppo in 1914. They had three childrenSophie, Irit, and Shaiand the family settled in Bat Yam. ", "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? They married in 1959, a month after meeting, and had three children together. He became a confidante of George Saif, high up in the Ministry of Information. 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. It also provides 30% of Israels water sources. 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. Cohen was born in 1924 in Alexandria, Egypt to a devout Mizrahi Jewish and Zionist family. [12][16], In 2016, a Syrian group calling itself "Syrian art treasures" posted a video on Facebook showing Cohen's body after his execution. [7] Cohen is married, has four children and lives in Holon. No film or video was previously known to exist of the execution. [8] His most famous achievement was the tour of the Golan Heights in which he collected intelligence on the Syrian fortifications there. [6] Cohen spoke five languages fluently. China Offering Cutting Edge Type 052D Destroyers For Export: Are Algeria and Russia its Most lIkely Clients? His remains have yet to be returned, despite pleas from his family. After his execution, a white parchment filled with anti-Zionist writing was put on his body, and he was left hanging for six hours. [27] Syrian authorities have repeatedly denied family requests for the remains. Eli Cohenhad 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. He worked as an accountant. 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. 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. Altogether, he returned to Israel three times between 1962 and 1965. He sent intelligence to Israel by radio, secret letters, and occasionally in person; he secretly traveled to Israel three times. Cohens contacts, nurtured through a string of lavish dinner parties, social occasions, and friendships with those in high places, led to invitations to visit Damascus and to set up a business venture there. 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. he soon became a well-known figure in the Arab circle. he transfers all operations to Mossad, Eli was now Mossad agent. He was hanged on May 18, 1965. I had gotten under his cover," said Maurice Cohen. 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. Please try again or choose an option below. "Suddenly something changed there toward us. He organized several protest campaigns against the British rule. Once registered, youll receive our Daily Edition email for free. Before he was executed, Cohen met with a rabbi, as per his request, and sent his wife a letter. They had three childrenSophie, Irit, and Shaiand the family settled in Bat Yam. [5], His parents and three brothers left for Israel in 1949, but he remained to finish a degree in electronics and coordinate Jewish and Zionist activities. They were caught spying for Israel in 1953 and some of them were hanged. When Intelligence came by a second time, he jumped at it. Still, Israeli Intelligence asked him to return to Syria one more time. Eli Cohen, at 29, offered his services to the Israeli Intelligence Services but was rebuked twice. I want him (Yossi Cohen) to clarify what hapepned," said the 84-year-old. As a young adult, he worked within Egypt to secretly assist other Egyptian Jews in emigrating to Israel. 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. Israel could not survive without Jordan's water. The Spy sees a friendship blossoming between Eli Cohen and Amin al-Hafiz, the future president of Syria, that begins as Cohen first goes undercover as Thaabet in Buenos Aires and mutually benefits them both for yearsright through to Cohen's discovery as an Israeli spy and subsequent execution.
Piper Rockelle And Lev Cameron Age,
Royal Liver Assurance Death Claims,
Articles E