Rumors that Russia removed the body of Israel’s most famous spy cannot yet be substantiated. Israeli officials are neither confirming nor denying.

Edited by: JV Staff

A cloud of rumors began swirling in Israel Sunday night over the possibility that the remains of Israeli spy Eli Cohen could be returning home.

“Cohen worked as a Mossad agent in Damascus, Syria under the alias of Kamal Amin Ta’abet from 1962 until his exposure and execution on May 18, 1965,” according to the “Help Bring Eli Home” website sponsored by his family.

“Cohen was able to supply considerable details on Syrian political and military matters because of his strong interpersonal skills and abilities to build close ties with business, military, and [ruling] Ba’ath Party leaders, and Syrian President Amin el Hafiz,” says the website, adding that Cohen was “hanged in Martyr’s Square with the television cameras rolling for the entire world to see.”

Cohen, an Egyptian-born Jew, had managed to climb the ranks of the Syrian Defense Ministry, becoming the top advisor to Syria’s Defense Minister.

The intelligence he gathered before his arrest is said to have been an important factor in Israel’s success in the Six-Day War.

A Wikipedia biographical report indicated that Cohen’s most famous achievement was the tour of the Golan Heights in which he collected intelligence on the Syrian fortifications there. Feigning sympathy for the soldiers exposed to the sun, Cohen had trees planted at every position. The trees were used as targeting markers by the Israeli military during the Six-Day War and enabled Israel to capture the Golan Heights in two days with relative ease. Cohen made repeated visits to the southern frontier zone, providing photographs and sketches of Syrian positions.

Cohen learned of a secret plan by Syria to create three successive lines of bunkers and mortars; the Israel Defense Forces would otherwise have expected to encounter only a single line.

According to the Wikipedia report, in 1957, Cohen was recruited by the Israel Defense Forces, and was placed in military intelligence, where he became a counterintelligence analyst. His work bored him, and he attempted to join the Mossad. Cohen was offended when the Mossad rejected him and resigned from military counterintelligence. For the next two years, he worked as a filing clerk in a Tel Aviv insurance office. In 1959, he married Nadia Majald, an Iraqi-Jewish immigrant and the sister of author Sami Michael. They had three children, Sophie, Irit and Shai, and the family settled in Bat Yam.

The Mossad recruited Cohen after Director-General Meir Amit, looking for a special agent to infiltrate the Syrian government, came across his name while looking through the agency’s files of rejected candidates, after none of the current candidates seemed suitable for the job. For two weeks he was put under surveillance, and was judged suitable for recruitment and training. Cohen was then informed that the Mossad had decided to recruit him, and underwent an intensive six-month course at the Mossad training school. His graduate report stated that he had all the qualities needed to become a katsa, or field agent.

He was then given a false identity as a Syrian businessman who was returning to the country after living in Argentina. To establish his cover, Cohen moved to Argentina in 1961

The source of the rumors appears to be websites linked to opposition groups in Syria. According to these reports, a Russian delegation recently left Syria with a coffin containing Cohen’s remains. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

The Israeli military censor is allowing for the rumors to be reported, but it is unclear what the significance of that is.

Middle East specialist Yoni Ben Menachem quoted Syrian opposition sources as saying, “There are unconfirmed leaks from Damascus about a coffin that was passed along with the Russian delegation that left Syria – the leaks speak of the possibility that the coffin contains the body of Israeli spy Eli Cohen. Awaiting confirmation.”

Last year, Cohen’s wristwatch was brought to Israel in a secret operation of the Mossad, and after Eli Cohen was executed, the watch was held by an enemy state.

When the watch was returned to Israel, research and intelligence activities were carried out, at the end of which it was determined unequivocally that the watch was indeed Cohen’s.

It follows the return of the remains of Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel at the beginning of this month. Baumel had been missing since a battle in Lebanon in 1982. The reports of the possible return of Cohen’s remains fit the mold of the background to how Baumel was brought home: the involvement of Russia and one or more opposition groups in Syria, perhaps ISIS, though the exact details remain somewhat vague. (World Israel News)

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Yad Vashem, the official Holocaust museum attacked Jair Bolsonaro, the new president of Brazil Saturday after saying that war crimes committed during the Holocaust “can be forgiven, but not forgotten.”

By: David Twidelsky

“We can forgive, but we cannot forget,” Mr. Bolsonaro, the new Brazilian president who has thus far been a strong supporter of Israel said Thursday at a meeting with Evangelical pastors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s capital. “Those that forget their past are sentenced not to have a future. We need to act so that the Holocaust will not repeat itself.”

Mr. Rivlin, the Israel president, referenced the Torah in saying that those who tortured the people of Israel must never forget, writing on Twitter that “Everything that Amalek has done to us is engraved in our memory, the memory of an ancient people.”

“We will never give a hand to those who deny the truth or try to cause it to be forgotten,” Mr. Rivlin said. “Not by individuals nor organizations, not by head of parties nor by heads of states. No one will enjoin the forgiveness of the Jewish people, and no interest will buy it.”

Mr. Rivlin stressed that the Jewish people will always fight racism and antisemitism.

“Diplomats have the responsibility to shape the future, and historians have the responsibility to describe the past and research history. It is forbidden for one to cross the boundaries of the other,” he added.

Dana Weiler-Polak, who is the spokeswoman for Yad Vashem said that no one can determine “if it is possible to forgive the crimes of the Holocaust.”

“From the day of its founding, Yad Vashem has worked for the continuation of the memory and meaning [of the Holocaust] for the Jewish people and for mankind as a whole,” she said.

Mr. Bolsonaro caused controversy earlier this month when he said “there is no doubt” that Nazism was a left-wing ideology.

He was asked by reporters in Israel if he agreed with Brazilian foreign minister Ernesto Araujo, who said that Nazis were “leftists.” “There is no doubt, right?” Mr. Bolsonaro responded.

Ms. Shelly said that Mr. Bolsonaro’s remarks were made during an “emotional” speech with “his fellow evangelicals.”

“His words made clear his complete repudiation of the greatest genocide in history, which was the Holocaust,” Yossi Shelly, the Israeli ambassador to Brazil, said in a statement, defending Mr. Bolsonaro. “At no point in his speech did the president show disrespect or indifference to Jewish suffering.”

When asked whether Netanyahu’s pledge to “annex” Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria would harm the prospects for Trump’s “deal of the century,” Pompeo replied, “I don’t.”

By: WIN Staff

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN interviewer Jake Tapper on Friday that the U.S.’ new Middle East peace plan would not be negatively impacted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign pledge to declare Israeli sovereignty over Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

“Do you have any concerns about the comments Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was just reelected, made right before he was reelected vowing to annex [Judea and Samaria]?” asked Tapper, adding, “Do you think that might hurt the pursuit of peace, the two-state solution proposal that Jared Kushner and others, including you, have been working so hard on?”

“I don’t,” responded Pompeo.

“I think that the vision that we’ll lay out is going to represent a significant change from the model that’s been used”,” he added.

Elaborating on the U.S. historical approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Pompeo explained “[W]e’ve had a lot of ideas for 40 years; they did not deliver peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Our mission set is to put forward a vision. Ultimately, the Israelis and the Palestinian people will have to make this – resolve this for themselves.”

Pompeo expressed hope that the Trump administration’s “new,” “unique” ideas “to reframe and reshape what’s been an intractable problem that multiple administrations have grappled with” would result in “a better life for the Israelis without this conflict” and “a better life for the Palestinian people.” (WIN)