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Operation Moses

Coordinates:20°00′18″N37°11′26″E/ 20.00500°N 37.19056°E/20.00500; 37.19056
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For other uses, seeOperation Moshe (disambiguation).

Operation Moses(Hebrew:מִבְצָע מֹשֶׁה,Mivtza Moshe) was the covert evacuation ofEthiopian Jews(known as the "Beta Israel"community or the derogatory" Falashas ")[1]fromSudanduring acivil warthat caused a famine in 1984. Originally calledGur Aryeh Yehuda( "Cub of the Lion of Judah" ) by Israelis, theUnited Jewish Appealchanged the name to "Operation Moses".[2]

History

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The operation, named after the biblical figureMoses,was a cooperative effort between theIsrael Defense Forces,theCentral Intelligence Agency,the United States embassy inKhartoum,mercenaries,andSudanesestate security forces.[3]Years after the operation completed, it was revealed that Sudanese Muslims and the secret police of Sudan also played a role in facilitating the mass migration of Ethiopian Jews out of Sudan.[4]Operation Moses was the brainchild of then Associate U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs, Richard Krieger. After receiving accounts of the persecution of Ethiopian Jews in the refugee camps, Krieger came up with the idea of an airlift and met withMossadand Sudanese representatives to facilitate the Operation.[5]

After a secret Israeli cabinet meeting in November 1984, the decision was made to go forward with Operation Moses.[6]Beginning November 21, 1984, it involved the air transport byTrans European Airwaysof some 8,000 Ethiopian Jews from Sudan viaBrusselstoIsrael,ending January 5, 1985.

Over those seven weeks, over 30 flights brought about 200 Ethiopian Jews at a time to Israel.[7]Trans European Airwayshad flown out of Sudan previously with Muslims making the pilgrimage to Mecca, so using TEA was a logical solution for this semi-covert operation because it would not provoke questions from the airport authorities.[8]Before this operation, there were approximately as few as 250 Ethiopian immigrants in Israel.[9]Thousands of Beta Israel had fled Ethiopia on foot for refugee camps in Sudan, a journey which usually took anywhere from two weeks to a month.[10]It is estimated as many as 4,000 died during the trek, due to violence and illness along the way. Sudan secretly allowed Israel to evacuate the refugees. Two days after the airlifts began, Jewish journalists wrote about “the mass rescue of thousands of Ethiopian Jews.”[11]

Operation Moses ended on Friday, January 5, 1985, after Israeli Prime MinisterShimon Peresheld a press conference confirming the airlift while asking people not to talk about it. Sudan killed the airlift moments after Peres stopped speaking, ending it prematurely as the news began to reach their Arab allies.[12]Once the story broke in the media, Arab countries pressured Sudan to stop the airlift. Although thousands made it successfully to Israel, many children died in the camps or during the flight to Israel, and it was reported that their parents brought their bodies down from the aircraft with them.[13]Some 1,000 Ethiopian Jews were left behind, approximately 500 of whom were evacuated later in the U.S.-ledOperation Joshua.[14]More than 1,000 so-called "orphans of circumstance" existed in Israel, children separated from their families still in Africa, until five years laterOperation Solomontook 14,324 more Jews to Israel in 1991.[15][better source needed]Operation Solomon in 1991 cost Israel $26 million to pay off the dictator-led government, while Operation Moses had been the least expensive of all rescue operations undertaken by Israel to aid Jews in other countries.[16]

Operation Dove Wing 2010; 2015–2022

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On 14 November 2010, theIsraeli cabinetapproved a plan to allow an additional 8,000Falash Murato immigrate to Israel.[17][18]

In 2015 it was reported the number of Jews in Ethiopia was 4,000.[19]

On November 16, 2015, the Israeli cabinet unanimously voted in favor of allowing the last group of Falash Mura to immigrate over the next five years, but their acceptance would be conditional on a successful Jewish conversion process, according to theInterior Ministry.[20]In April 2016, they announced that a total of 10,300 people would be included in the latest round of Aliyah, over the following 5 years.[21]

On March 11, 2021, 300 Ethiopian Jews went to Israel–the last of 2,000 Jews from Operation Tzur Israel which began in December 2020.[22]

In 2021, the estimated number of Jews remaining in Ethiopia was about 100.[23]

On 2 February 2022 the Israeli Supreme Court suspended Aliyah from Ethiopia.[24]

On 1 June 2022 180 Jews from Ethiopia made Aliyah to Israel as part of Operation Zur Israel to reunite 3,000 Jews in Ethiopia with their brethren in Israel.[25]

As of 14 June 2022 500 Jews from Ethiopia made Aliyah to Israel.[26]

Cultural references

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This operation was the subject of an Israeli-French film titledLive and Become,directed by Romanian-bornRadu Mihăileanu.The film centers on an Ethiopian child whose Christian mother passes him as a Jew so he can immigrate to Israel along with the Jews in order to escape the famine that is looming in Ethiopia. The film went on to win the 2005 award for Best Film at theCopenhagen International Film Festival.[27]

In the bookWorld War Zby Max Brooks, the evacuation of African Jews to Israel in response to the outbreak of the titular epidemic is referred to as Operation Moses II.

The filmThe Red Sea Diving Resortis loosely based on the events of Operation Moses and Operation Joshua.

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Operation Moses".Historyofwar.org.Retrieved2013-08-31.
  2. ^Lenhoff, Howard (2007).Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes: How Grassroots Activism Led to the Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews.Gefen Publishing House. p. 263.ISBN978-9652293657.
  3. ^"Aliyah through Sudan".Archived fromthe originalon December 6, 2010.
  4. ^Lenhoff, Howard (2007).Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes: How Grassroots Activism Led to the Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews.Gefen Publishing House. p. 214.ISBN978-9652293657.
  5. ^Rapoport, Louis (1986).Redemption Song.Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.ISBN9780151761203.Retrieved24 May2016.
  6. ^"Today in History: Operation Moses".IDF.
  7. ^Omer-Man, Michael."This week in History: Operation Moses begins".The Jerusalem Post | Jpost.The Jerusalem Post.
  8. ^Lenhoff, Howard (2007).Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes: How Grassroots Activism Led to the Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews.Gefen Publishing House. p. 236.ISBN978-9652293657.
  9. ^Kaplan, Steven & Salamon, Hagar (2004).Jews in Israel: Contemporary Social and Cultural Patterns.Brandeis. p.Chapter Five: Ethiopian Jews in Israel: A Part of the People or Apart from the People?.ISBN978-1584653271.
  10. ^Ministry of Immigrant Absorption."Operation Moses – Aliyah of Ethiopian Jewry (1984)".
  11. ^Lenhoff, Howard (2007).Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes: How Grassroots Activism Led to the Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews.Gefen Publishing House. p. 264.ISBN978-9652293657.
  12. ^"Home".CJE Baltimore.
  13. ^Jewish Chronicle."Operation Moses Suspended: January 5 1985: The world learns of the rescue of Ethiopian Jews".
  14. ^Kaplan, Steven & Salamon, Hagar (2004).Jews in Israel: Contemporary Social and Cultural Patterns (Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry).Brandeis. p.Chapter Five.ISBN978-1584653271.
  15. ^"The History of Ethiopian Jews".Jewishvirtuallibrary.org.Retrieved2013-08-31.
  16. ^Lenhoff, Howard (2007).Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes.Gefen Publishing House. p. 214.ISBN978-9652293657.
  17. ^"Israel to allow in 8,000 Falash Mura from Ethiopia".BBC News.2010-11-14.Retrieved12 September2015.
  18. ^"8,000 more Falash Mura to come to Israel | JTA – Jewish & Israel News".18 November 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 2010-11-18.Retrieved21 March2022.
  19. ^"'Wings of the Dove' brings Ethiopia's Jews to Israel ".The Jerusalem Post.Retrieved12 September2015.
  20. ^Reuters November 16, 2015
  21. ^"Coalition crisis averted: 9000 Ethiopian immigrants to be brought to Israel over 5 years".The Jerusalem Post | JPost.
  22. ^staff, T. O. I."300 Ethiopian immigrants arrive in Israel, ending four-month airlift".timesofisrael.
  23. ^"Jewish Population by Country 2022".worldpopulationreview.
  24. ^"News Briefs".Israel National News.
  25. ^News, Israel National (June 1, 2022)."After years of delays, 180 Ethiopian immigrants to land in Israel Wednesday".Israel National News.{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help)
  26. ^Liphshiz, Cnaan (June 14, 2022)."How Israel's Falash Mura immigration from Ethiopia became a painful 30-year saga, with no end in sight".
  27. ^"Live and Become (2005)".IMDb.1 February 2008.Retrieved24 May2016.
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Further reading

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  • Parfitt, Tudor (1985) Operation Moses: the untold story of the secret exodus of the Falasha Jews from Ethiopia. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
  • Meiri, Baruch 2001, "The Dream Behind Bars: The Story of the Prisoners of Zion from Ethiopia", Gefen Publishing House.ISBN965-229-221-4
  • Poskanzer, Alisa 2000, "Ethiopian Exodus", Gefen Publishing House.ISBN965-229-217-6
  • Rosen, Ricki 2006, "Transformations: From Ethiopia to Israel", Gefen Publishing House.ISBN965-229-377-6
  • Samuel, Naomi 1999, "The Moon is Bread", Gefen Publishing House.ISBN965-229-212-5
  • Shimron, Gad 2007, "Mossad Exodus; The Daring Undercover Rescue of the Lost Jewish Tribe", Gefen Publishing House.ISBN978-965-229-403-6
  • Yilma, Shmuel 1996, "From Falasha to Freedom: An Ethiopian Jew's Journey to Jerusalem", Gefen Publishing House.ISBN965-229-169-2
  • Viktor Ostrovsky (1990),By Way of Deception,Stoddard Publishing

20°00′18″N37°11′26″E/ 20.00500°N 37.19056°E/20.00500; 37.19056

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