Born in Alexandria, Egypt to two ordinary Syrian Jewish parents, Eli Cohen could have never imagined that his future would lead him to become Israel’s most famous spy. Growing up in a multicultural port city, he was exposed to Arabic, Hebrew, English, Spanish and French and political tension of the Middle East from a young age. During his youth, Eli Cohen actively participated in the Zionist movement, including helping Israeli intelligence in evacuating Egyptian Jews up to the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state. The mass migration of Jews from Muslim states, that was primarily a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict, led Eli Cohen’s family to immigrate to Israel in 1949. However, Cohen stayed behind to finish his degree and to pursue his Zionist efforts among the Egypt Jewish community. Prior to the 1952 Egyptian revolution, Egyptian authorities suspected his activities and arrested and interrogated him. This unusual childhood and youth allowed Cohen to build believable cover stories and move seamlessly between cultures.

Nevertheless, by December 1956, after the Suez Crisis, Cohen was forced to leave Egypt and migrated to Israel, where he settled in Bat Yam, a coastal city near Tel Aviv. Three years later, he married Iraqi-born Jew, Nadia Majald who he had three children with, the first one being born just before Cohen began his work as a Mossad agent. He worked as an accountant and translation work, living a relatively modest civilian life.

While Mossad Director-General Meir Amit looked for an officer to infiltrate the Syrian government, he decided to look through the agency’s files of rejected candidates after none of the current candidates seemed fit for the task and came across Eli Cohen’s name. Cohen was watched by government agency for two weeks that concluded he was suitable for recruitment and training. After Mossad officially decided to recruit Cohen, he completed an intensive course at the Mossad training school that lasted six months where he developed all the skills necessary to become a field agent in 1960. The training focused on creating a false identity, mastering codes, identifying trackers, and understanding Syrian politics and the individuals most relevant to it.

Eli Cohen was given a false identity as Kamel Amin Thaabet, a wealthy Syrian businessman who was returning to the country after living in Argentina. He moved to Buenos Aires in 1961 where for months he integrated with the Arab community, making it clear that he had large amounts of money to supply the Syrian Ba’ath Party, an illegal party at the time. Cohen returned to Syria in early 1962 and quickly became integrated into high-level political and military circles. His social gatherings became famous among Damascus’ elite. At these events, Syrian officers, relaxed from the festivities, shared classified information openly, unaware that Cohen was transmitting much of it to Israel.

From 1962 to 1965, Eli Cohen provided Israel with what is widely regarded as some of the most valuable intelligence ever obtained on a hostile Arab state. He reported the precise layout of Syrian fortifications on the Golan Heights, identified artillery placements, and described military strategies discussed among senior commanders. There is no doubt that the intelligence he provided played a decisive role in Israel’s swift capture of the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War.

Cohen’s increasing success, however, came at the cost of mounting risk. By 1964, Syrian authorities, with assistance from Soviet signal intelligence experts, began conducting systematic sweeps to locate suspicious radio transmissions in Damascus. On January 18, 1965, during one of Cohen’s early-morning transmissions to Tel Aviv, Syrian counterintelligence units detected and traced the signal directly to his apartment. He was arrested immediately.
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Following months of interrogation and a widely publicized military trial, Cohen was found guilty of espionage. Despite international appeals for mercy, including from the governments of France, Belgium, Canada, and even the Pope, Syria refused to take a softer approach in his sentencing. On May 18, 1965, Eli Cohen was publicly executed by hanging in Marjeh Square, Damascus, his body left on display as a warning to others. He was 40 years old.