Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen (Hebrew: אֱלִיָּהוּ בֵּן שָׁאוּל כֹּהֵן‎; Arabic: إيلياهو بن شاؤول كوهين‎; 6 December 1924 – 18 May 1965) was an Egyptian-born Israeli spy.

A staunch Zionist, he helped Israel evacuate the Egyptian Jewish community by assisting Israeli intelligence throughout Egypt.

[8] Cohen is also said to have aided Egyptian Jews who were taking part in what would become known as the Lavon Affair, by which Israel sought to sabotage Egypt's relationship with the Western world.

Two members of the spy ring were caught and sentenced to death, but the Egyptian government was unable to find a link between Cohen and the perpetrators.

[7][9] In 1959, he married Nadia Majald (born c. 1935),[10] an Iraqi-born Jew with whom he would have three children (Sophie, Irit, and Shai) after settling down in Bat Yam.

[13]: 63–64 [15] In Buenos Aires he moved among the Arab community, letting it be known he had large amounts of money to put at the disposal of the Syrian Ba'ath Party.

[16]Cohen moved to Damascus in February 1962 under the alias Kamel Amin Thabet (Arabic: كامل أمين ثابت)[17][18] and lived in Al Mahdi Ibn Barakeh Street of the Abu Rummaneh neighbourhood, an area which contained various embassies and government buildings, including the Air Force Intelligence Directorate.

[19] Mossad had carefully planned the tactics that he was to use in building relationships with high-ranking Syrian politicians, military officials, influential public figures, and the diplomatic community.

[9] Cohen continued his social life as he had in Argentina, spending time in cafes listening to political gossip.

At these parties, Cohen "dispensed free-flowing liquor and prostitutes"[1] and highly-placed officials would openly discuss their work and army plans.

According to an unconfirmed but widely believed story, he feigned sympathy for the soldiers exposed to the sun and had trees planted at every position, placed to provide shade.

[21] Cohen made repeated visits to the southern frontier zone, providing photographs and sketches of Syrian positions.

[2] A 2018 article published in Newsweek by Ronen Bergman excerpted from Bergman's book Rise and Kill First, says that Eli Cohen located Alois Brunner, a former Nazi official and Holocaust perpetrator suspected of living in Syria, and relayed the information to an Israeli intelligence unit that subsequently sent letter bombs to Brunner.

Cohen expressed fear of discovery to the Mossad on his last secret visit to Israel in November 1964, and he stated that he wished to terminate his assignment in Syria.

[7] In January 1965, Syrian officials, who used Soviet-made tracking equipment and were assisted by Soviet experts, increased their efforts to find a high-level spy.

Syrian security services led by Suidani broke into Cohen's apartment on 24 January and claimed to have caught him in the middle of a transmission to Israel.

[30] Monthir Maosily, the former bureau chief of Hafez al-Assad, claimed in August 2008 that the Syrians had buried him three times to stop the remains from being taken back to Israel via a special operation.