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I have been researching the story of the Mossad spy Eli Cohen for several years and found it a facinating and tragic story. Cohen successfully penetrated the Syrian government in the early 1960's but was caught, tortured, tried and executed by hanging in May, 1965.
Several books on Israel's secret services that include the story of Israel's most celebrated spy blame Cohen himself for his capture and his demise. Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman ("Every Spy a Prince", p.145) claim that Cohen had become "complacent" and "irresponsible"; Samuel M. Katz ("Soldier Spies - Israeli Military Intelligence", p. 169) claim that Cohen's transmissions were "routine and lengthy -even cocky"; Gordon Thomas ("Gideon's Spies", p.61) claim Cohen had become "reckless"; only Dennis Eisenberg, Uri Dan and Eli Landau ("The Mossad - Israel's Intelligence Service: Inside Stories", p.121) exonerate the spy, saying that Cohen's capture had nothing to do "with any known mistakes committed by the spy..."
Until I read "Our Man In Damascus" (Eli ben-Hanan, 1968) and "The Shattered Silence" (Aldouby and Ballinger, 1971) I realised that I could not form an informed conclusion on what really happened to Eli Cohen. Ben-hanan asserted that the Syrians concluded that a "Zionist" agent had penetrated the government, and that the source of their conclusion was Kol Israel's Arabic Service, that broadcast sensitive political and military secrets that Cohen had supplied to the Mossad (pp.80-81). I was so stunned by that information that I could not believe it. Certainly ben-hanan was misinformed. I was shock to discover later in the "International Hebrew Heritage Library - Great Jews - Military Heroes", pp. 38,39 that ben-hanan wasn't unique in making that assertion.
I recently received my last and final reference source on the Eli Cohen story: "The Shattered Silence", by Zwy Aldouby and Jerrold Ballinger. There on p.325 is the very same assertion - that Kol Israel was one of the sources of Syria's counterintelligence awareness that a mole "had infiltrated the highest government echelons". For me three sources of the same assertion lends it credibility.
Finally, I can conclude, based upon all the information available to me that: 1. the Syrians knew there were clandestine radio operators in Syria almost from the commencement of Eli Cohen's operations in 1962; 2. that Kol Israel aided Syria's confirmation that there was a mole in the Syrian government; 3. that Kol Israel's information was not enough to pinpoint Cohen; that the complaints of RFI from the Indian Embassy was helpful in pinpointing Cohen's location; that Cohen in fact did not follow proper security measures in the operation of his clandestine radio transmissions and that the Syrians were then able to track, trace and pinpoint his signals based solely upon Cohen's lengthy and predictable transmission times and frequencies.
Several books on Israel's secret services that include the story of Israel's most celebrated spy blame Cohen himself for his capture and his demise. Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman ("Every Spy a Prince", p.145) claim that Cohen had become "complacent" and "irresponsible"; Samuel M. Katz ("Soldier Spies - Israeli Military Intelligence", p. 169) claim that Cohen's transmissions were "routine and lengthy -even cocky"; Gordon Thomas ("Gideon's Spies", p.61) claim Cohen had become "reckless"; only Dennis Eisenberg, Uri Dan and Eli Landau ("The Mossad - Israel's Intelligence Service: Inside Stories", p.121) exonerate the spy, saying that Cohen's capture had nothing to do "with any known mistakes committed by the spy..."
Until I read "Our Man In Damascus" (Eli ben-Hanan, 1968) and "The Shattered Silence" (Aldouby and Ballinger, 1971) I realised that I could not form an informed conclusion on what really happened to Eli Cohen. Ben-hanan asserted that the Syrians concluded that a "Zionist" agent had penetrated the government, and that the source of their conclusion was Kol Israel's Arabic Service, that broadcast sensitive political and military secrets that Cohen had supplied to the Mossad (pp.80-81). I was so stunned by that information that I could not believe it. Certainly ben-hanan was misinformed. I was shock to discover later in the "International Hebrew Heritage Library - Great Jews - Military Heroes", pp. 38,39 that ben-hanan wasn't unique in making that assertion.
I recently received my last and final reference source on the Eli Cohen story: "The Shattered Silence", by Zwy Aldouby and Jerrold Ballinger. There on p.325 is the very same assertion - that Kol Israel was one of the sources of Syria's counterintelligence awareness that a mole "had infiltrated the highest government echelons". For me three sources of the same assertion lends it credibility.
Finally, I can conclude, based upon all the information available to me that: 1. the Syrians knew there were clandestine radio operators in Syria almost from the commencement of Eli Cohen's operations in 1962; 2. that Kol Israel aided Syria's confirmation that there was a mole in the Syrian government; 3. that Kol Israel's information was not enough to pinpoint Cohen; that the complaints of RFI from the Indian Embassy was helpful in pinpointing Cohen's location; that Cohen in fact did not follow proper security measures in the operation of his clandestine radio transmissions and that the Syrians were then able to track, trace and pinpoint his signals based solely upon Cohen's lengthy and predictable transmission times and frequencies.