Operation Moses

For other uses, see Operation Moshe (disambiguation).

Operation Moses (Hebrew: מִבְצָע מֹשֶׁה‎‎, Mivtza Moshe) refers to the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews (known as the "Beta Israel" community or "Falashas")^[1] from Sudan during a famine in 1984. The operation, named after the biblical figure Moses, was a cooperative effort between the Israel Defense Forces, the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States embassy in Khartoum, mercenaries, and Sudanese state security forces.^[2]

Beginning November 21, 1984, it involved the air transport by TEA of some 8,000 Ethiopian Jews from Sudan directly to Israel, ending January 5, 1985. Thousands of Beta Israel had fled Ethiopia on foot for refugee camps in Sudan. It is estimated as many as 4,000 died during the trek. Sudan secretly allowed Israel to evacuate the refugees. Operation Moses stopped on Friday January 5, 1985 after the Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres held a press conference confirming the airlift while asking people not to talk about it. Sudan killed the airlift moments after Peres stopped speaking. Once the story broke in the media, Arab countries pressured Sudan to stop the airlift. Some 1,000 Ethiopian Jews were left behind. Many were evacuated later in the U.S.-led Operation Joshua. More than 1,000 so-called "orphans of circumstance" existed in Israel, children separated from their families still in Africa, until five years later Operation Solomon took 14,000 more Jews to Israel in 1991.^[3]

Operation Moses in fiction

This operation was the subject of an Israeli-French film titled Live and Become, directed by Romanian-born Radu 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 the Copenhagen International Film Festival.^[4]

See also

• Operation Joshua
• Operation Solomon

References

1. ^ Operation Moses
2. ^ Aliyah through Sudan
3. ^ The History of Ethiopian Jews
4. ^ Va, vis et deviens (2005)

External links

• "Dugdale-Pointon, TDP. (1 April 2001), Operation Moses". http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_moses.html. Retrieved 2008-07-24. 
• "1985: Israel ends major Ethiopian rescue mission". London: BBC. 1985-01-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/5/newsid_4071000/4071661.stm. Retrieved 2007-04-04. 
• Anastasia Toufexis (1985-01-21). "Israel Stormy Skies for a Refugee Airlift". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,956274-1,00.html. Retrieved 2007-04-04. 
• Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews

Further reading

• 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. ISBN 965-229-221-4
• Poskanzer, Alisa 2000, "Ethiopian Exodus", Gefen Publishing House. ISBN 965-229-217-6
• Rosen, Ricki 2006, "Transformations: From Ethiopia to Israel", Gefen Publishing House. ISBN 965-229-377-6
• Samuel, Naomi 1999, "The Moon is Bread", Gefen Publishing House. ISBN 965-229-212-5
• Shimron, Gad 2007, "Mossad Exodus; The Daring Undercover Rescue of the Lost Jewish Tribe", Gefen Publishing House. ISBN 978-9652294036
• Yilma, Shmuel 1996, "From Falasha to Freedom: An Ethiopian Jew's Journey to Jerusalem", Gefen Publishing House. ISBN 965-229-169-2
• Viktor Ostrovsky (1990), By Way of Deception, Stoddard Publishing