Listen to Eli Cohen's last interview

Army Radio broadcasts interview with Israeli spy just months before he was hanged in Syria

Ynet|Published: 05.30.10 , 13:47

Army Radio broadcast recordings Sunday of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who gave an interview to Damascus Radio just months before he was executed in May 1965. In it, he was asked why he returned to Syria and general questions such as which music he liked.

"With us today is brother Kamal Amin Ta'abet, who has lived abroad," the Syrian broadcaster introduces Eli Cohen, who lived for many years under the alias in Damascus.

"He emigrated from his land as a youth and returned to it as a young man. His heart is full of love for his country, where he first smiled. He has returned in order to live among its flowers in the shadow of liberty and national pride."

The interviewer asks Cohen why he returned to Syria, and the latter answers, "With us, Arab blood always flows in our veins. When I was asked about my country, I knew nothing. I have been asked to tell of my country and did not know what to say. I said I don't know, and then I told myself, let's go see my land, see how it has developed."

Asked what his favorite music is, Cohen names famous singers such as Fairuz and Abd al-Wahhab.

Cohen entered Syria in 1961 and began to work undercover. In time he advanced in social and political status and became one of Damascus's elite.

Cohen used the elite ties he fostered in order to gain information on the Syrian army's deployment in the Golan and conveyed the information to Israel. At the height of his popularity, he served as the deputy minister of defense.

However in 1965 he was discovered and detained by Syrian intelligence. Despite public and covert efforts made by Israel to retrieve him alive, he was tried and publicly hanged just four months after his arrest.

פרסום ראשון: 05.30.10, 13:47

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