‘Disturbing’ footage emerges from famed Israeli spy’s execution in Syria

A two-minute video posted on Syrian opposition forces’ social media accounts this week purportedly shows the aftermath of the 1965 execution of Israeli spy Eli Cohen in Damascus.

The black-and-white footage shows what appears to be Cohen’s body being lowered into a coffin after he was hanged in a public square in Damascus over 51 years ago, on May 18 of that year. His remains were not retrieved by Israel and the regime in Syria has claimed it does not know where he is buried.

Mossad agent Cohen was put on trial and executed for espionage after he successfully infiltrated the Syrian government under the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet for four years. The intelligence conveyed to Israel during that period was credited by then-prime minister Levi Eshkol with greatly assisting Israel’s victory during the Six Day War.

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Despite the fact that the video is not new, and is included in the archives of The Associated Press, the re-publication set off a stir in Israel.

Nadia Cohen, Eli Cohen’s widow, said she had never seen the footage and told Channel 2 watching the video “was difficult” and that it “took me back [to those days].”

There were tears and a sadness to see [the post-execution video] right in front of you, how he’s lowered from the rope into the coffin, to see the vehicles there, to see the masses in the square, and all of it accompanied with loud music [and] happiness, it’s not simple,” she said.