“The Spy”, produced by Alain Goldman (La Vie en Rose) and directed by Gideon Raff (Homeland), will tell the true and incredible story of Eli Cohen, a Jewish spy of Egyptian origin, who worked for Israel in the 60s, Syria, reports the French premiere cinema magazine. This new series will be co-produced by Netflix and Canal +.
The series, which will be shot in French, will soon be launched in France on Canal + and broadcast around the world on Netflix.
Eli Cohen, of his false identity Kamel Amin Thaabet, had managed to infiltrate all political and military levels of the country and reshaped the face of the Middle East.
Having played a major role in the Israeli victory over the Syrian forces during the Six-Day War, he is still considered one of the most effective spies in history.
At the beginning of January 1965, he was unmasked by Egyptian counter-espionage specialists, who, thanks to a new Soviet direction-finding system, had located radio waves of Morse-coded messages emitted from a miniature transmitter in his apartment.
Eli Cohen was arrested on 24 January 1965, when he was transmitting secret messages to Israel. In his latest encoded message, he announces to his Israeli counterparts that he is being unmasked. He is then tortured, held in closed session in Syria, and sentenced to death by hanging.
Eli Cohen is hanged in a public square in Damascus on May 18, 1965, despite the interventions of the French, Belgian and Canadian leaders, as well as Pope Paul VI, who asked the Syrian government to reverse the sentence.
At the end of the Six-Day War, despite many efforts, Damascus refused to transfer the body of Eli Cohen.
The Syrian authorities have always refused to return Cohen’s body to his family to be buried in Israel. The demands of his family are still ignored by the government