WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Undetected: Eli Cohen Part 1

Episode Date: March 9, 2024

This week, Megan and Alessia begin exploring the origins of Eli Cohen, a Mossad agent whose espionage work would help determine the outcome of the Six-Day War.

Welcome to Undetected on Radio Free Hillsdale. Go undercover with your hosts, Alessia Sandala and Megan Lee, as they uncover the stories of spies from every country and time. The most thrilling, yet the most secret of lives in history. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Megan. And I'm Alessia. Today, we will be covering the thrilling, highly successful tale of Israel's greatest spy,

Ellie Cohen. It's been two episodes since we have heard the story of an agent who actually spied for his country and people. Elie Cohen was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1924, to a devout Jewish family that emphasized Syrian Jewish tradition and Zionism throughout his upbringing. Cohen chose to remain in Egypt to work with Zionist groups when his family moved to Israel in 1949. But at the same time, Egypt was becoming increasingly dangerous for Jews, and Israel soon began Operation Goshen in an effort to smuggle Jews out of Egypt into Israel. In 1951, the Egyptian government was taken over and state-sponsored anti-Zionist policies were implemented.

As a result, Cohen was arrested for a period, but Egyptian authorities lacked evidence, so Cohen was ultimately released. What the Egyptians didn't know was that Cohen had been working on Israeli covert operations in the country during the 1950s. In 1954, Cohen played a role in an Israeli operation that was soon uncovered. He had luckily not been directly involved. He was suspected, but the Egyptian authorities again lacked proof. At the start of the Suez War in 1956, Cohen was again arrested and eventually expelled with most other Egyptian Jews, after which he moved to Israel in early 1957.

Cohen was a polyglot, fluent in Arabic, French, and Hebrew, and he worked as a translator and accountant until the Israel Defense Force, or IDF. Learning about his linguistic skills, recruited him, for military intelligence. Cohen was an analyst while he worked for the IDF. However, he found this unrewarding, so he sought to be an agent for Mossad. Can you tell us what Mossad is, Alessia? Of course, Megan.

Massad is essentially Israel's version of the CIA. It is an elite foreign intelligence agency. At the time, Mossad was investigating the Egyptian-Syrian alliance in relation to Israel. Wesley Britton, author of the Ellie Cohen files, gives us some context of the political conflict during these times. Syria was a big mystery to, well, Israel and really the whole world because it was going through a state of flux. In part, that's because General Nasser down in Egypt wanted to create a pan-Arab league or nation, and Syria would be part of it.

After six months of intensive training, Cohen was given the new identity of Camille Amin Thabet, and he moved to Buenos Aires. Argentina to establish the credibility of his cover. Posting as an expatriate Syrian businessman with patriotic desires to return to his homeland, Cohen hosted lavish dinner parties, attended social gatherings, and quickly gained the trust of senior officials within the Syrian embassy's community. These men would play an enormous part in providing Cohen access to the highest circles of power in Syria. That is some incredible success, Alessia. Imagine not only being able to

meet with the most influential people in Syria as a spy, but becoming their friends. That's not all, Megan. One of the men Cohen befriended, Amin al-Hefez, would become the president of Syria through a military coup two years later. Wow, what luck. It's got to be smooth sailing from here, right? Well, we'll see about that in two weeks. When we learn what happens after Cohen is deployed to Damascus, Syria, the heart of his enemy's land, and the place he had been preparing to infiltrate. I'm Megan. And I'm Alessia. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Undetected. Tune in in two weeks to hear part two of Ellie Cohen's mission, his work in Syria, and the fateful end of his story on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.