Eli Cohen

Eli Cohen was a celebrated Israeli spy. Born in Egypt in 1928, Cohen contributed to pro-Israeli activities in Egypt during the 1950s but the important part of his career began when he was recruited into Israeli military intelligence in 1960. He was given a false identity as a Syrian Arab who was returning to Syria after living in Argentina. To establish his cover, Cohen moved to Argentina in 1961 and early the following year moved to Damascus. For the next few years, Cohen successfully gained the confidence of many Syrian military and government officials, and sent intelligence to Israel by radio, secret letters, and occasionally by visiting Israel in person. His most famous achievement was to tour the Syrian fortifications on the Golan Heights, though historians are divided over the actual importance of his report. In 1964 his control was transferred to Mossad as part of an intelligence reorganization. In January 1965 he was caught in the act of sending a radio message, and after a trial he was found guilty of espionage and hanged on May 18.