Operation Moses
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Operation Moses, named after the biblical figure Moses, was the covert removal of Ethiopian Jews (known as Beta Israel) from Sudan during a famine in 1984. The operation 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.
Begun November 21, 1984, it involved the air transport 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. Once the story broke in the media, Arab countries pressured Sudan to stop the airlift. Some 1,000 Ethiopian Jews were left behind. Most of them 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 Operation Solomon completed the migration of the Ethiopian Jews.
See also
External link
- Israel Assosciation for Ethiopian Jews (http://www.iaej.co.il/pages/history_operation_moses.htm)