Mossad Chief Reveals Last Telegram Sent by Eli Cohen From Syria

The Mossad on Monday revealed decisively for the first time how its famous spy, Eli Cohen, was caught in 1965.

Mossad director David Barnea disclosed the content of Cohen’s last cable to the agency, on Jan. 19, 1965, as well as that the cable was intercepted.

For decades, there has been a debate about whether Cohen, who gave the Mossad significant information about top Syrian officials and armaments from 1961-1965, was caught because his handlers pushed him too hard or he himself took too many risks.

Barnea said that releasing the last cable was part of an effort to make it clear that no one was “to blame,” and that sometimes even the best of spies – and he rated Cohen a legend for his contributions to the organization – can be caught by persistent counterintelligence by an enemy.

Cohen trained extensively and spent time in South America to build a deep cover story as a businessman with strong ties to Syria, and succeeded in befriending a variety of top Syrian officials. 

However, some Syrians were already suspicious of him after an internal coup in 1963 and Syria also received new technological tools for detecting spy transmissions from the USSR.

Despite Barnea’s disclosure, some historians will continue to claim that Cohen wanted to stay in Israel in 1964 and was concerned about returning back to Syria for another period of time undercover – the time period in which he was eventually caught.

Cohen, a Jewish immigrant to Israel from Egypt, was recruited by the Mossad and dispatched under cover to Damascus, where he operated from 1961 to 1965.

Before his arrest, he managed to pass on information that Israel says proved vital to the defeat of Syrian forces in the 1967 Middle East war.

Inaugurating a museum to Cohen’s memory in Herzliya, Barnea said a recent investigation had concluded that the spy was caught “only because his transmissions were intercepted by the enemy. Simply intercepted and traced.”

“This is now an intelligence fact,” Barnea said, according to a transcript of the event, dismissing theories that Cohen had tipped off the Syrians by sending too many messages, perhaps under pressure from his handlers, or strayed from instructions.

Among the exhibits in the new museum is Cohen’s last cable reporting a meeting of the Syrian high command. Convicted of espionage, Cohen was hanged in Damascus later that year.

Syria, still at war with Israel, has refused to repatriate Cohen’s body.