Eli Cohen
Israeli spy (1924–1965)
Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen (Hebrew: אֱלִיָּהוּ בֵּן שָׁאוּל כֹּהֵן, romanized: ʾEliyāhū ben Šāʾūl kōhēn; Arabic: إيلياهو بن شاؤول كوهين, romanized: Īliyāhū bin Shāʾūl Kūhīn; 26 December 1924 – 18 May 1965) was an Egyptian-born Israeli spy. He is best known for his espionage work in Syria between 1961 and 1965, where he developed close relationships with the Syrian political and military hierarchy.
Though he was initially successful, Cohen's activity became increasingly risky and he expressed a sense of impending danger to Mossad in 1964. A year later, his true allegiance was uncovered by the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate and he was convicted by the Syrian government under pre-war martial law. After being sentenced to death, he was publicly hanged in Damascus in May 1965. The incident contributed to the sharp escalation of hostilities between Israel and Syria just before the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.
Cohen is highly regarded in Israel, with several streets and roads being named after him.
Early life
Cohen was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to a Syrian-Jewish family. His father had immigrated from Aleppo in the Ottoman Empire in 1914. Deeply committed to Judaism, Cohen had planned in his youth to become a rabbi with guidance from Alexandria's Chief Rabbi Moise Ventura, but the city's yeshiva soon closed down, prompting him to pursue higher education at Cairo University.
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This entry incorporates text from “Eli Cohen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.