Following a report on Sunday that the Mossad turned down a million dollar offer to locate the remains of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, his widow, Nadia Cohen had a message for the Mossad.
Nadia said that she contacted Mossad’s head Yossi Cohen to find out why the offer was refused. “He’s not worth the price?” Nadia asked. “They didn’t want to look into it? I want him [Yossi Cohen] to tell me what this is all about. If it’s true, I’ve lost all my trust.”
The report said that Khalid al-Hafidh, a Syrian migrant living in New Zealand who claims to be the son of former Syrian President Amin al-Hafez, was in negotiations with the Mossad to reveal where Israeli spy Eli Cohen’s remains are located. However, the Mossad refused to pay the million dollars that Hafidh demanded to even begin the process and his offer was rescinded.
Since al-Hafez was overthrown in 1966 and has been dead for almost a decade, it’s impossible to know if Hafidh’s claim is true and a million dollar price tag without any evidence of the veracity of his claim may have prevented the Mossad from accepting his offer. However, the facts remain unconfirmed since the Mossad hasn’t commented on the matter.
Sophie Ben-Dor, Cohen’s daughter, told Maariv on Monday that the Mossad had not informed them about Hafidh’s offer. “We heard the story for the first time together with everyone else and we were completely shocked,” Ben-Dor said. “We turned to the Mossad but we didn’t hear back from them. We’re very pained by this.”
Ben-Dor added that although the family has mostly despaired of finding her father’s remains “the heart never gives up hope. Even if it’s false, it’s appropriate to offer words of comfort to the family.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)