Tag Archives: Fauda

Jew of the Week: Gamliel Cohen

Father of Israeli Espionage

Gamliel Jamil Cohen (1922-2002) was born in Damascus to a religious Syrian-Jewish family, and grew up in the city’s Jewish Quarter. Yearning to live in the Holy Land and inspired by the Zionist vision, he left Damascus at the age of 21 and literally walked to Israel. He joined a kibbutz started by Ashkenazi immigrants. Despite being the odd one who was darker-skinned and spoke no Yiddish, Cohen quickly fell in love with the sense of unity and brotherhood, as well as the important pioneering work of developing the Jewish ancestral homeland. His uniqueness caught the attention of the Palmach, the commando unit of the pre-IDF defence force, the Haganah. The Palmach sought to launch an intelligence unit that could infiltrate Arab governments, and were looking for talented and dedicated Arab Jews. In 1944, Cohen became their first recruit. Together with Iraqi Jew Shimon Somech, they created the first unit of Mista’arvim (recently popularized by the show Fauda). The term itself came from the name of the ancient Mizrachi Jewish communities living in Arab lands that were distinct from, and pre-dated, the Sephardic Jews that joined them after the Spanish Expulsion of 1492. After several years of training, Cohen moved to Beirut in 1948 and set up Israel’s first official intelligence outpost, living undercover as Yussef el-Hamed, a textile shop owner. By this point, his operation was overseen by the newly-formed Mossad. Cohen’s trailblazing work and espionage innovations paved the way for more famous later spies like Shula Cohen and Eli Cohen. In 1954, Cohen married a fellow Syrian Jew who also worked for the Mossad. Together, they moved to Paris undercover as Arabic journalists. Cohen managed to get hired by the Syrian Embassy in Paris, from which he sent critical intelligence to the Israeli government. In 1958, the Cohens moved to Vienna to continue their work as “journalists”. In addition to infiltrating the embassies of Arab states, they also found information on neo-Nazi groups and exposed war criminals in hiding. Cohen retired from active duty in 1964 and went on to train the next generation of Israeli spies. In his last years, he wrote the book Undercover: The Untold Story of the Palmach’s Clandestine Arab Unit. Almost all of Cohen’s work remains classified. He has been called the “father of Israeli espionage”.

Happy Israel Independence Day!

Zionism Before Zionism

Words of the Week

The U.N. did not create Israel. The Jewish state came into being because the Jewish community in what was Mandatory Palestine rebelled against foreign imperialist rule. We did not conquer a foreign land.
– Yitzhak Shamir

Jew of the Week: Avi Issacharoff

Creator of Hit TV Show Fauda

Avi Issacharoff (b. 1973) was born in Jerusalem to a 7th generation Bukharian-Israeli family. His ancestors were among the first settlers of the famed Bukharian Quarter of Jerusalem. Although his family had built the Issacharoff-Babayev Synagogue of Jerusalem, Issacharoff himself was raised in Givat Shaul and attended its Kurdi synagogue. There, he picked up Arabic and would go on to become fluent in the language. This allowed Issacharoff to serve in the prestigious IDF Unit 217, also known as Duvdevan (“Cherry”), the elite special forces of the Commando Brigade, famous for their undercover work in Arab territories. Following his service, Issacharoff studied at Ben-Gurion University, then got an MA from Tel Aviv University. His first big role was as a Middle East Affairs Correspondent for Israel Radio. In 2002, he won a Best Reporter Award for his coverage of the Second Intifada. Shortly after, he began writing his first book (together with Amos Harel), called The Seventh War: How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians. The award-winning book was translated into French and Arabic, and became a Middle Eastern bestseller. The two later wrote another award-winning and bestselling book about the 2006 Lebanon War. Meanwhile, Issacharoff moved over to work at Ha’aretz as its Palestinian and Arab Affairs Correspondent. In 2014, he and a cameraman were beaten by Palestinian rioters. After producing, writing, and directing a number of short documentaries, Issacharoff teamed up with actor Lior Raz (a fellow Duvdevan veteran) to create Fauda, a new television show about Israeli secret agents in Palestinian communities. The show – based on their own experiences – became a huge hit, and won six Ophir Awards (the Israeli Oscars). It was eventually picked up by Netflix and streamed in 190 countries. Last month, The New York Times called it the best international show of 2017. Its long-awaited second season is now on air, and a third is coming next year. Meanwhile, Issacharoff still writes regularly, now as the Middle East Analyst for The Times of Israel and Walla!, Israel’s largest news portal. He is also a lecturer at Tel Aviv University. In a recent interview, he said how he fondly remembers Pesach seders at his grandfather’s house, where everyone wore joma, the traditional Bukharian robes, and that one of his favourite pastimes to this day is cooking Bukharian food.

Words of the Week

They don’t speak enough about the Kurds, because we have never taken hostages, never hijacked a plane. But I am proud of this. We have only three advantages: our willingness to sacrifice our bodies, our high morale, and if those fail us, we always have the mountains. Because they are our only friends.
– Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, on why there is so much support for Palestinians, but none for Kurds