Tel Aviv International Salon Honors Spy Master & National Hero Eli Cohen
Starts on Tue, May 18, 2021 7:30 PM Israel Daylight Time (UTC+3)
Tickets (20.40 NIS) here.
“Leading Ideas, Leading Israel”
About this Event
Tel Aviv International Salon, honors:
Spy Master & National Hero Eli Cohen
with the privilege of hosting Nadia Cohen, wife of Eli Cohen in a conversation on the anniversary of his murder in Damascus with Minister of Intelligence MK Eli Cohen discussing the Mossad
Event will be held in English + Q&A + Wine Bar
RSVP: Register Above
Where: Social Space, Kikar Atarim, Tel Aviv
Who: Young adults only, 20s & 30s
About Our Event: Honoring Eli Cohen & The Mossad
Eli Cohen, was born Eliyahu ben Shaoul Cohen in 1924 in Alexandria Egypt. He became Israel’s most famous Mossad spy who infiltrated the highest ranks of the Syrian military and government by posing as a Syrian businessman. Between 1961 and 1965 Cohen passed Syrian secrets to the Israeli government in what is remembered as one of the most daring and productive intelligence-gathering operations in Israeli history.
Cohen grew up the son of Syrian Jewish parents. His fluency in Arabic, English, and French made him an attractive recruit for Israeli intelligence. He traveled to Israel for a brief espionage training course in 1955 and returned to Egypt the following year. Cohen, however, was expelled from Egypt along with other Zionists in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, and he settled in Israel in 1957. He worked as a translator and an accountant before once again being recruited by Israeli intelligence in 1960.
After completing further training, Cohen was sent in 1961 to Buenos Aires, where he posed as an expatriate Syrian businessman. Using the alias Kamal Amin Thaabet, Cohen made numerous contacts in the Syrian expatriate community in Argentina and soon gained the trust of senior officials working in the Syrian embassy there. Those included the Syrian military attaché, Amin al-Hafez, who would later serve as president of Syria. Cohen made his desire to return to Syria well known to his new associates, and, when he moved to Damascus in 1962, his Syrian contacts helped him access the highest circles of power in Syria. He soon began to transmit information about Syrian military plans back to Israel.
Cohen’s espionage work took on even greater importance when a Baathists junta that included several of his associates from Argentina seized power in Syria in 1963. The coup’s leader, Amin al-Hafez, continued to favor Cohen, and he reportedly considered appointing him Deputy Minister of Defense. Cohen received classified military briefings and was taken on tours of the Syrian fortifications in the Golan Heights.
In January 1965, Syrian counterintelligence identified his radio signal and apprehended him in the act of sending a transmission. Cohen was interrogated, convicted in a military trial, and publicly hanged in Damascus on May 18, 1965.
About Our Speaker: Minister of Intelligence MK Eli Cohen
The Ministry of Intelligence (Misrad HaModi’in) oversees policies related to the operation of the intelligence organizations, the Mossad and the Shabak. The ministry supports the national security of the State of Israel in coordination with and under the guidance of the Prime Minister.
Minister and Member of Knesset Eli Cohen is married and a father of four living in Holon. He is a trained accountant and a major in the IDF (res.). He previously held the post of Minister of the Economy & Industry and was a member of the Israeli Security Cabinet.
About Our Partner: i24 NEWS
i24 NEWS is an international news network broadcasting in English, French & Arabic. With headquarters based in Yafo Port, i24 also broadcasts worldwide from its studios in New York, Paris, Washington and Tel Aviv. Our event will be moderated by i24 NEWS anchor Natasha Kirtchuk of i24’s Global Eye. Natasha is a TV and digital journalist, who hails from New York City, Argentina and Israel. Before joining i24NEWS, Natasha worked as the Head of Content and Lead Anchor at ILTV, and as a Travel and Sports Reporter for the Israeli Sports Channel 5 and Israel’s Channel 13 show Soger Inyan. Previously, she worked for FOX 5 in NYC, and WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina.
About Our Venue: Social Space
Social Space at The Colosseum has revitalized a landmark venue in Kikar Atarim at the end of Ben Gurion Blvd overlooking Gordon Beach in Tel Aviv. The goal of the center is to create a welcoming environment for social entrepreneurs and facilitate encounters between people from different backgrounds, while also inviting different NGOs to use the space, meet, and talk to each other. Our event will be held with health regulations in mind, and trust our community to keep things safe and kosher.
About Our Organization: Tel Aviv International Salon
Leading Ideas, Leading Israel
The Tel Aviv International Salon is the largest speakers forum in Israel. Our nonprofit organization was established in 2009 to provide a challenging, thought-provoking and intellectual discussion non-partisan platform for the young adult Tel Aviv International and Sabra community. There are an increasing number of motivated young professionals who are choosing to make Tel Aviv their home. The Salon provides this community a unique forum to learn about, debate and discuss Israeli, Jewish and world politics, history, media, economics, social, cultural and environmental issues with a diverse range of engaging international decision-makers and the leading influencers on our society.
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EMAIL: Events@TLVSalon.com
WEB: www.TLVSalon.com
The Salons are generously supported by the Am Yisrael Foundation www.AmYisrael.com
