Netflix airs trailer for series about Israeli spy Eli Cohen

Netflix on Wednesday released the trailer for its series on legendary Israeli spy Eli Cohen, starring Sacha Baron Cohen.

The six-episode drama “The Spy” tells the story of Cohen, who spied for Israel in Syria in the early 1960s, and the new promo focuses on the personal toll of Cohen’s undercover work as he is forced to lie to loved ones. It also suggests that as the story progresses, Cohen will lose his own ability to distinguish truth from fiction as he assumes his Syrian persona.

The show, which will be released September 6, was written and directed by Israeli Gideon Raff, best known for the Hebrew-language drama series “Hatufim” (Prisoners of War) and its acclaimed US adaptation, “Homeland.”

Mossad agent Cohen was put on trial and executed by Syria for espionage on May 18, 1965, after he successfully infiltrated the Syrian government under the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet for four years. The intelligence he conveyed during that period was credited by then-prime minister Levi Eshkol with having greatly assisted Israel during the Six Day War.

Five decades on, Israel has not given up on retrieving Cohen’s remains from Syria and bringing them to Israel for burial.

JTA contributed to this report.