Here is
the story of a bona fide Israeli hero.In the sixties, He worked for the Mossad; the equivalent to the American
CIA and his assignment was to infiltrate the Syrian army to gather intelligence
of the Golan Heights area located in southern Syria.The Syrian
army had bunkers in this mountain range and they would bomb the kibbutz
(farming communities) located just below the mountain; many people died and the
children had to go to school underground.Mr. Cohn was very resourceful and hespoke perfect Arabic.He began by opening a furniture business in Argentina that somehow permitted him to move to Damascus. He managed to get himself involved in the Syrian
high society and began dating the Army chief of staff’s daughter; she even
became his fiancée.Mr. Cohn had a
family in Israel and this was part of his undercover work.One day, while speaking with his future father-in-law,
he asked that he accompany him on a tour of the Golan Heights.His father-in-law graciously
obliged and Mr Cohn would make sketches of the area and transmit the
information back to Israel with a high-powered radio he had in his apartment.He made a suggestion to the Syrians that they
should plant eucalyptus trees to cover the bunkers; this would have a two-fold
benefit for the soldiers – the trees would provide shade and they would provide
cover because, he said, if the Israelis were to attack, the bunkers would be
safe. When Israel made a pre-emptive attack on Syria in 1967, they knew exactly where the bunkers were
located because of the eucalyptus trees and have occupied the area even up till
today.Unfortunately, Mr Cohn was
discovered and Israel offered to release 200 Syrian prisoners in exchange for Mr Cohn. They
refused and he was hanged publicly in Damascus; his body was placed in an unmarked grave.We may not all agree with Israeli policy but
one thing remains crystal clear – the promise that God made to Abraham in
Genesis 12: 2, 3 still holds true today :“And I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a
blessing:And I will bless them that
bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.”