19 December 2019 Jewish News
www.jewishnews.co.uk
29
Interview / Weekend
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME Francine Wolfisz speaks to Nadia Cohen, the widow of Israel’s most famous spy, about her husband’s heroism and fatal final mission
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Nadia and Eli Cohen, one of Israel’s most revered spies, pictured in the early 1960s
ore than 50 years may directed by Homeland creator have passed, but Gideon Raff. Nadia Cohen still “It portrayed Eli as a true vividly recalls hero – which he was – but the haunting moment obviously it’s a more Hollyher husband, Eli, was wood version, so it doesn’t abruptly unveiled as specifically or accurately an Israeli spy, much to describe Eli’s character. the shock of the high“I knew him as a clever ranking Syrian officials man with an exceptional he befriended while capability of receiving inforworking undercover. mation, always smiling, but “When he was caught, serious, very down to earth and something within me instantly simple, keen on helping others died,” she tells me. “At our last and giving. It was very pleasant being farewell, we both knew it would married to him,” she affirms. probably be the last time. In our Nadia Cohen She does concede however that hearts we felt we would not see each The Spy has done much to reignite interest in other again.” the story and “made a lot of waves regarding Eli’s We speak ahead of Nadia’s appearance last activities in Syria.” Wednesday in front of a packed audience at Ner Of the latter, I ask Nadia if she had ever Orre Community Centre, organised as part of suspected her husband was a spy and indeed at Mill Hill United Synagogue’s Israel Engagement what point over his four years away from home, programme, set up by Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet save for a handful of visits back to Israel, she and Orli Lang just over a year ago. might have suspected there was more to his cover For her latest appearance in London, the now story of working abroad. 84-year-old widow of one of Israel’s most revered Unknown to her, during that time Eli was agents wants to address her feelings about the posing as a Syrian textile businessman named recent Netflix drama and how it compares to the Kamal Amin Thabet. real Eli Cohen she knew and loved. “When I met Eli, I didn’t know he was in the When The Spy launched in September, Nadia Mossad,” says Nadia, who married Eli in 1959. was initially lukewarm towards the drama star“But I didn’t believe he was a businessman either, ring Sacha Baron Cohen as her late husband, an because it was not in his character. He didn’t like Arabic-speaking immigrant recruited by Mossad money, he liked the simple life. to work as an undercover agent in Syria during “Somewhere in the middle I started suspecting the early 1960s. something, because he began to change. It was Infiltrating the highest echelons of the Syrian not the Eli I knew, the way he talked, even his regime, Cohen was able to pass on sensitive military and political information to Israel before he was exposed, interrogated, tortured and sentenced to death by hanging, having been found guilty of espionage. The 41-year-old was brutally hanged in Marjeh Square in Damascus in front of a crowd of 10,000 people, in May 1965 – and despite his last request to have his body returned to Israel, the Syrian authorities have to this day never disclosed the whereabouts of his remains. Israel credits the information he provided in helping the country to victory during the Six Day War in 1967. Three months on since she first saw The Spy, I ask her how she now feels Above and right: Sasha Baron Cohen as Eli Cohen in about the drama which was written and the Netflix drama The Spy
dialect in Arabic changed. Usually he didn’t like Arabic cinema, but suddenly he started liking it, because it was part of his cover to be up-to-date with that culture.” In November 1964, Eli returned to Israel to see the birth of his third child and during his visit, asked Mossad to terminate his assignment, as he feared his cover would soon be blown. But he was told to return to Syria one last time. Nadia tells me she instinctively felt there was something wrong. “I realised he was in a dire situation,” she reveals. “I felt a great change in him. I saw a lot of fear. He was very depressed and desperate, but I didn’t realised this would put an end to our life together.” Just weeks later, Eli was caught by Syrian officials. At that moment, “something within me instantly died,” says Nadia. “I functioned like a robot. I fed the kids, dressed them, sent them to school, but there was no living spirit within me.” For the last 54 years, Nadia has tirelessly campaigned for Eli’s body to be returned to Israel for proper burial. “I have a lot of sadness,” she tells me. “It hurts me a lot, because I’m starting to think maybe I won’t be able to see his grave in my lifetime.” Last year however, Nadia received a glimmer of hope when Eli’s wristwatch was recovered by Mossad during a secret operation. Today, the watch rests within a framed plaque featuring the insignia of Mossad and a picture of Eli, and has pride of place in her home. “I felt his light again when I received that watch,” she smiles. As her lifelong campaign to return Eli’s body to Israel continues, I ask Nadia what she would like people to remember most about her hero husband. “That he was a Zionist, a true patriot and loved his people,” says Nadia proudly. “That he put himself in harm’s way to secure the future of the Jewish people.”
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