Baruch Cohen (; 17 January 1936 – 23 January 1973) was an Israeli intelligence officer in the

Shin Bet The Israel Security Agency (ISA; , (GSS); ), better known by the Hebrew acronyms, acronyms Shabak (; ; ) or Shin Bet (from the abbreviation of , "Security Service"), is Israel's internal Security agency, security service. Its motto is "''Magen ...

and '' katsa'' in the

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

. Cohen was assassinated by the Palestinian militant group

Black September Organization The Black September Organization (BSO; ) was a Palestinians, Palestinian militant organization, which was founded in September 1970. Besides other actions, the group was responsible for the Assassination of Wasfi Al-Tal, assassination of the Jo ...

in Madrid in 1973 after meeting with one of his Palestinian informants, who was a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

Early life

Baruch Cohen was born on 17 January 1936, in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, then in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

. The Cohen family had lived in Haifa for five generations. Cohen was the son of Chaim and Victoria and had 5 brothers. Three of his brothers were members of the

Hagana Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the region, and was formally disbanded in 1948, when it ...

and had been arrested and imprisoned by the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. One brother was killed in the Battle of Rafah during the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

. Baruch spoke Arabic with his parents and felt at ease in an Arab home. At the age of 16, he joined Kibbutz Ein Harod, and then the

Nahal Nahal () (acronym of ''Noar Halutzi Lohem'', lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) is a program that combines military service with mostly social welfare and informal education projects such as youth movement activities, as well as training in entrepr ...

in 1953, where he completed officers and combat sergeants courses.

Government career

Cohen completed his mandatory service in the

Israeli Defense Forces Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

(IDF) in 1958, then joined the

security service as a case officer in 1959. Due to his Arabic skills, Cohen worked in

Nablus Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...

and the surrounding refugee camps, trying to recruit Palestinians to spy for Israel. He was reportedly quite adept and became a station chief. Between 1963 and 1964, Cohen left Shin Bet to work for the

Jewish Agency The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). As an ...

as director of the Galilee region. He returned to government service in 1964. At Shin Bet, Cohen led the investigation that uncovered a Syrian-directed Jewish-Arab spy ring in Israel. Cohen interrogated the spy ring's alleged leader in Israel, Daud Turki, a Palestinian-Israel

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...

politician. Cohen's role was revealed 2 months after his death, when Turki's statements and confession during his interrogation were read during the trial in March 1973 of Turki and five co-defendants. By the early 1970s, there were an estimated 6,000 Palestinians in West Germany, many of whom students who were involved in Palestinian militant groups like

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

and the

. In 1970, Cohen's charisma and deep knowledge of Palestinians led to the Tzomet Division of the

to request his secondment as director of Mossad's operations in Europe. Cohen moved with his wife and four children to Brussels, and from July 1970 to December 1972, he worked at the Israel embassy in Brussels, after which he returned to Israel.

Assassination

On the morning of Tuesday, 23 January 1973, Cohen met one of his informants, a Palestinian medical student and

activist living in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

named Samir Mayed Ahmed, at Café Morrison on Calle Jose Antonio, later renamed the Gran Vía. As their meeting on 23 January ended, two men came up to Cohen and shot him three times in the chest. A fourth bullet hit a passerby. Cohen later died at the Francisco Franco hospital. Cohen had met Samir several times to discuss Palestinian political activities, but Samir was actually a

for the Palestinian militant group

. Initial news reports originally identified Cohen as a tourist named Moshe Hannan Yishai, the name on the passport of his undercover identity. After his body had been flown back to Israel for burial, Israeli authorities revealed his true name and government affiliation.

Aftermath

Later that day, Black September Organization issued a public claim of responsibility for the assassination, alleging that Cohen, whom they incorrectly identified as Uri Molov, had been shadowing Arab intelligence officers.{{Cite news , date=31 January 1973 , title=Israel Says That Man Slain In Madrid Was an Agent , language=en-US , work=The New York Times , url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/31/archives/israel-says-that-man-slain-in-madrid-was-an-agent.html , access-date=27 June 2021 , issn=0362-4331 While some in the media believed the operation was retaliation for Israel's Operation Wrath of God, Cohen's assassination was planned months in advance. More than 10 years later,

reportedly found Samir in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

; however, the Mossad director did not authorize his assassination, purportedly for fear of losing another Mossad officer.

Personal

Cohen met his wife Nurit when they were both instructors in the Nahal. They married in 1956 and lived in

Re'im Re'im () is a secular kibbutz in southern Israel, and one of the Gaza vicinity villages. Located at the confluence of Besor Stream and Gerar Stream in the north-western Negev desert, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Counc ...

near the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. The couple had four children. Cohen is buried in the military cemetery in Haifa.

References

External links

Baruch Cohen's entry on the Israeli Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center's List of the Fallen
People murdered in 1973 Assassinated Israeli people Assassinated spies Assassinations in Spain Israeli people murdered abroad Israeli terrorism victims People of the Mossad People of the Shin Bet People murdered in Spain