Mossad head Barnea: His last message about Syrian high command intercepted
https://www.jpost.com/-By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Israeli master spy Eli Cohen in Syria, wearing a watch recovered by the Mossad
(photo credit: GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE)
The Mossad on Monday revealed 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, sent on January 19, 1965, as well as that the cable was intercepted.
In the cable, Cohen reported to his clandestine supervisors that then-Syrian President Amin al-Hafaz had met with the Syrian military high command at 5:00 p.m. – this being just shortly before Cohen was captured.
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.
Who was Eli Cohen?
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.
Barnea made the revelation at a ceremony opening a new museum named for Cohen in Herzliya.