ELI COHEN HERO

Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen, commonly known as Eli Cohen, was an Israeli spy. He is best known for his espionage work in 1961–1965 in Syria, where he developed close relationships with the political and military hierarchy and became the Chief Adviser to the Minister of Defense. Wikipedia

Born: December 26, 1924, Alexandria, Egypt

Died: May 18, 1965, Al Marjeh Square, Damascus, Syria

Full name: Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Cohen

One of the most memorable and daring attempts to infiltrate Syria, which at the time controlled the Golan Heights and frequently shelled the Israeli settlers down below is that of Eliahu ben Shaoul Cohen an Egyptian born Jew.

Eliahu ben Shaoul Cohen, worked as a Mossad agent in Damascus, Syria under the alias of Kamal Amin Ta'abet from 1962 until his exposure and execution on May 18, 1965. Cohen was able to supply considerable details on Syrian political and military matters because of his strong interpersonal skills and abilities to build close ties with business, military, and Ba'ath Party leaders, and Syrian President Amin el Hafiz. He was hanged in Martyr's Square with the television cameras rolling for the entire world to see. 

Eli was privy to secrets of the Syrian elite including those of national security. Eli was considered to be named the Syrian Deputy Minister of Defense. He was the only civilian to receive private tours of military installations, even being photographed in the then Syrian controlled Golan Heights with high ranking Syrian officials looking over into Israel.

As a result Eli sent highly informative reports back to Israel detailing the Syrian water deviation project and each and every one of the outposts on the Golan, including tank traps designed to impede any Israeli attack.

Eli’s influence on Syrian officials helped Israel beyond measure. Eli suggested that the Syrians plant trees on the Golan near each of their fortifications. Based on the eucalyptus trees, Israel knew exactly where the Syrian fortifications were.

Two years after his death, in June 1967, the intelligence Eli Cohen provided enabled Israel to capture the Golan Heights in two days as part of Israel's victory in the Six Days War.

Eli Cohen was the greatest Mossad agent Israel has ever known. He was greatly admired by all, including the Syrians. His deeds fed and are still feeding the imagination and fantasy of many. He is a hero who sacrificed his life for the sake of Israel, his fellow Jews, his children and his family.

It is 38 years since he was hanged. The Syrian government still has not returned his remains to his family for a proper Jewish burial in Israel where 'Kaddish' can be said at his gravesite. It is Time; the Time Is Now, to demand that his remains be returned. Therefore, we call upon everyone to sign our Petition to Dr. Bashar el Assad, President of Syrian.

Through this web site, we pay tribute to Eli Cohen, Our Man in Damascus, Israel’s greatest Mossad Agent. We remember his deeds through the words of his brother, Maurice Cohen, who was in the same unit that activated Eli, revealing up-to-date facts which were not told surrounding the story of Mossad’s campaign in Syria. This is an international educational site to increase people's knowledge of the contribution Eli Cohen made to the survival of the State of Israel and the Jewish people; and the history of the Middle East at the time.

We hope to reunite his remains with the land and the family he loved so much.

From the creation of Israel through the present day, Syria has been one, if not the most, implacable of Israel's enemies. From 1948 until 1967, Syria was in more of a position to express her dislike and wish to put an end to the Jewish state by firing mortar shells from the Syrian occupied Golan Heights into the Jewish settlements of the Upper Galilee below. For 19 years, Jewish settlements in the north were under constant threat of Syrian guns.

Today, one can see the former Syrian bunkers that remain on the Golan Heights from 1967 (as well as the tanks from 1973). Israel has had a quiet northern border on the Golan side for 32 years. The Syrians have used Israel's northern border with Lebanon to harass Israel the way they used to from the Golan Heights. Since 1992, the Golan has been up for discussion in the peace talks, but it strikes a very emotional chord among Israelis due to its historic and strategic significance, in addition to its wild beauty.

When the Golan was captured in 1967, at almost the end of the Six-Day War, settlers in the north could finally breathe a sigh of relief. And much of the credit for Israel's ability to capture the Golan was due to Eli Cohen, Israel's greatest spy.

The Golan is not only important for its military significance. It also provides 30% of Israel's water sources. The three major tributaries of the upper Jordan River - the Dan, the Baniyas, and the Hatzbani - all originate in the Golan. The melting winter snows produce a huge run-off of water which make the Golan itself a beautifully verdant area in the late winter and spring, and irrigate the Hula and Jordan Valleys below. Its waters flow into the Sea of Galilee (the Kinneret) and south to the Dead Sea.

The Kinneret supplies Israel with most of its water needs. In the 1960's, Israel developed a national water carrier which diverted water from the Kinneret into a pipeline that irrigated much of the country - and especially Israel's arid south.

Israel tried to obtain the cooperation of her Arab neighbors for the plan but the Arabs would not agree, even when the United States tried to use its diplomatic leverage for the furtherance of the plan. The Arabs would have none of it, and decided to "divert the sources of the Jordan River which originated in Arab-held territory." In this way, the Arabs hoped to deprive Israel of the waters she would need for her national growth.