T. Belman. I am proud to say that Edy Cohen is a friend of Mudar Zahran and he spoke at my conference on the Jordan Option in 2017 and in my Webinar on the same subject 2 months ago. THIS IS GREAT NEWS.
How did an Israeli Jew get recognized as the second most influential person in the Arab world?
Edy Cohen runs for election Photo: Edy Cohen
A candidate in the upcoming November elections in Israel may be just the man who could help bring peace to the Middle East, more than anyone we have seen in Israeli politics for a long time, if, that is, you believe anyone short of the Messiah could.
This is the story of Edy Cohen that begins in Lebanon, that unique combination of French, Muslim, and Christian Arab culture that was crushed by Iranian-supported Hezbollah armies. The once prosperous European destination whose civil wars and raging jihadists now churn perched astride Israel’s northern borders.
“We are Lebanese Jews,” Cohen told me as we discussed why he now wants to sit with Benjamin Netanyahu in a new Israeli government. “My family were all born in Beirut’s Jewish neighborhood. But when civil war broke in 1975 all Jews escaped leaving just a few hundred. We stayed.”
Cohen attended a Christian school, the only alternatives being Muslim. He attended church too but resisted praying to Jesus. “I didn’t belong. The children harassed me. They said I killed Jesus. ‘Here goes the Jew, ‘That son of a Yehud’ they shouted,” the common local curse.
That was in the Christian school where some Muslims attended. “The Arabs cursed me for stealing the land of Palestine and killing Palestinians,” Cohen recalls, but before long things got worse.
Edy and his father, Haim Cohen: Photo: Edy Cohen
“When I was 13 in 1985 Hezbollah marched onto the scene and began kidnapping Americans and French expats. Journalists too and of course Jews. The head of the Jewish community together with my father were taken and Hezbollah demanded Israel release security prisoners ‘with blood on their hands’ from prison. Israel refused, and they murdered all the hostages including my father.”
Cohen wept but also understood that Israel could not make a deal with terrorists because “Jews around the world would be kidnapped and make more demands. I could not blame Israel for this, only the terrorists,” he says.
At an early age Cohen learned that hatred and antisemitism towards Jews was unmitigated evil.
“I was thirteen with two brothers when our father was murdered. With our mother we needed to find a way to leave Lebanon and in 1990 we managed to escape to France. It was impossible to get into Israel because Hezbollah had taken over the entire southern regions of Lebanon. From France we made Aliyah to Israel in 1995 and finally settled in Jerusalem,” he says smiling.
Edy with his mother and brothers Photo: Edy Cohen
Cohen was 23 by the time they arrived in Israel and began his military service in Intelligence in Judea and Samaria where his fluency in Arabic and Arab culture made him the perfect liaison for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Given his personal tragedy living among Arabs, Cohen worked passionately investigating and gathering intel to expose terror and other anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish activities among the Palestinians living in these territories.
Are the Palestinian Arabs different than the Lebanese? I asked Cohen.
“How can I say, they are more primitive? Lebanese Arabs are more sophisticated, they have traveled, they know languages, they are more educated. My job was to investigate, gather information. I was prepared.”
Edy Cohen in the IDF Photo: Edy Cohen
After his IDF service, Cohen went on to study Political Science and Middle East Studies at Bar Ilan University where he achieved a Ph.D. During his studies he worked in the Israeli Intelligence Community. “After 15 years of service I left my job because I didn’t have the freedom to say the things that needed to be said. There is too much bureaucracy and political correctness.” He went on to create space for himself where he could expose “what Arabs are really saying and thinking” and make the case for Israel in open lectures, in the Arab and Israeli press, and on Arabic social networks.
Cohen is also a Research Fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, a think tank conducting policy-relevant research on Middle Eastern and global strategic affairs, particularly as they relate to the national security and foreign policy of Israel and regional peace and stability.
Why Politics?
Now a candidate for a seat in the government together with Netanyahu’s Likud Party in the upcoming elections, Cohen explains:
“I am getting involved because I have seen too many mistakes that Israeli politicians are making concerning the Arabs. They just do not understand the culture. Like the recent metal detector crisis in Jerusalem. We put up a metal detection system to prevent weapons from getting into the highly explosive Temple Mount area. Palestinians and Arab media around the world made a big fuss over it and Israeli simply folded and took them down. We cannot continue to act this way in the Arab world. We must not give in to their pressure.”
But wasn’t it Netanyahu that caved on this?
“Netanyahu makes mistakes. He needs people around him that support a more definitive right-wing agenda. I want to work with him and support him to move a little more to the reasonable right of the political spectrum.
“I see how the Arab MK’s instigate violence against Israel in the halls of the Knesset! They curse and accuse Israel in Arabic, and no one responds to them. No one even understands Arabic, and if they do they don’t speak up because they are afraid of stirring up a political or diplomatic crisis.”
Cohen says that given a chance he won’t let these kinds of things go on anymore. There are more than a hundred other candidates like Cohen that want to be elected in November but not a single one speaks Arabic. “How can we deal with Arabs if we don’t know their language and culture, their religious beliefs, history, holy books, and even food sometimes. I grew up in the Arab world. Add to that my vast experience working in intelligence agencies and there is so much I can contribute to our government,” he says.
“Let me give you just one small example that exemplifies the fundamental mistake that Israel keeps making. Did you know that Jordan does not allow Jews to enter their country with tefillin? Of course not, nobody in Israel knows because our politicians are afraid to stand up and say anything. It may sound like a small thing but reflects a fundamental mistake in the way we mishandle the conflict.
He talks about the Saudi sheik who curses the Jews openly to millions of Muslims when an Israel journalist went to visit Mecca. “No one would even know about this if I hadn’t translated his evil speech,” Cohen says. See his article on this in today’s edition of Israel Today.
He talks about the scandalous compromise going on in our country he calls “Palestinianization” where Arabs are taking advantage of Israel’s perceived weakness. “They raise Palestinian flags on university campuses and stir up trouble because they see there is no response. These latent and lethal timebombs that continue to fester and must be dealt with before it is too late.”
Peace in the Middle East?
Edy Cohen top in Arab news Photo: Edy Cohen
It is surprising that Cohen’s bold uncompromising approach has earned him the unique accolade in the Arab press as the, Second most influential Israeli in the Arab world. It seems that there are far more Middle East Arabs ready to hear the truth about their regimes. By boldly exposing the lies and corruption in Arabic media for years, Cohen is changing the ways Muslims see Jews and Israel.
His influence has opened connections throughout the Middle East, and he hopes a place in the Israel’s next government will allow him to reinforce relationships with Muslim countries that are interested in making peace with us. “I have a personal relationship with many leaders in the Persian Gulf where I can bring these connections to a whole other level. The same in business and tourism. You know we have the Abrahamic Peace Accords, but have you seen even one Arab from the Arab Emirates visiting Israel? No, not one. I want to go and bring them over. There is so much more we can do.
“We cannot continue to have a European perspective on the conflict in the Middle East. We need to be stronger and not afraid to use our advantage against the terror groups. We need to be a strong right-wing country. The Arabs respect that.
“Our politicians don’t have the knowledge of the Arabic mentality. Just reading intelligence reports is not enough. You have to know how the Arabs think. Not only that but you have to know how things are being interpreted by the other side. I am a Doctor of Middle East history, a fervent Zionist, and I love my country and our people.”
I asked Edy if the conflict is religious, cultural, or political.
The Jewish Journal Jan 1987 Photo: Edy Cohen
“It began when the Jews refused to embrace Islam. Muslims felt humiliated and Muhammed sent emissaries to the Jews and said, ‘Come, let’s join together. We can all be Muslims. What you had previously as Jews is fine, but there is something new. I am the later Prophet. Help me and I will help you.’ The Jews replied ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you.’”
“So he tempted them. ‘See, you don’t eat pork. We too will not eat pork. You pray three times a day, I will give you five times. It’s even more. You circumcise on the eight day, I’ll make it even more difficult. We’ll do it at age 12 when it hurts even more. The Jews resisted and Muslims were offended, and the conflict began.
“The conflict evolved from religious to territorial in 1948 when Israel was proclaimed a nation. Then when we later captured Jerusalem in 1967, the old religious conflict was stirred up again and we now have a conflict that is worse: religion and territory.”
If Netanyahu does get elected once again in November, and Edy Cohen is given a chance to sit with the prime minister and minister of defense, he surely brings a fresh and insightful perspective to the table. We’ll be watching together with you.
Edy Cohen is Israel Today’s Arab affairs correspondent.
See all Edy’s articles on what’s happening in the Arab world here.
Please ignore my post below. I misread the Eli Cohen for Edy Cohen, clearly a gross error on my part, so please disregard.
Very good news:
Likud primaries