Operation Solomon

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Beta Israel upon arrival in Israel on May 24, 1991

Operation Solomon was an Israeli military operation launched in 1991 with the aim of enabling Ethiopian Jews to emigrate to Israel .

Starting position

With Operation Moses from November 21, 1984 to January 5, 1985, around 8,000 Ethiopian Jews (also called Beta Israel or Falaschen) came to Israel by airlift. After the action became known, it had to be stopped at the instigation of Arab states. The Beta Israel remaining in Ethiopia fled the Ethiopian civil war to the capital Addis Ababa on the premises of the Israeli embassy. In November 1990, an agreement was reached between Ethiopia and Israel that individuals were allowed to travel to Israel as part of family reunification. In return, Ethiopia received a payment of $ 40 million in economic aid.

At the same time, due to the weaknesses of the Mengistu regime, plans began to airlift all Beta Israel wishing to leave the country.

At the beginning of 1991 the rebels were able to achieve great successes against the Mengistu regime. When the rebels were only 50 kilometers from the capital, Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam and his government fled the country in early May . Israel used the resulting power vacuum for its rescue operation.

procedure

Within 35 hours and 25 minutes, starting on Thursday, May 23rd and ending on May 25th, 1991, a total of 24 C-130 transport planes of the Israeli Air Force and 10 civil aircraft of the Israeli civil airline El Al brought 14,324 Falaschen to Israel.

The planes used landed at a rate of up to three planes in 30 minutes. The refugees who were on the premises of the Israeli embassy were brought into the mattress-lined machines. Without refueling, they flew back to Israel. The 34 machines used made a total of 41 flights.

In addition, civil aircraft were used, which set an unbroken world record: a Boeing 747-200 from El Al carried 1,135 passengers on one flight, and after two births during the flight even 1,137 passengers (according to other sources 1,086 / 1,088 passengers); the machine is designed for 480 passengers.

Approx. 1,500 Falashes remained in the Gondar region, which is cut off from the capital. They were brought to Israel from November 2011 to August 2013 as part of Operation Pigeon Wings . Before that, they had been cared for in a refugee camp and prepared for departure.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ethiopia Virtual Jewish Tour . In: Jewish Virtual Library . American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise , accessed December 4, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Boeing 747 is retiring - The plane that broke a world record for El Al
  3. ^ Ulrich W. Sahm: Never published stories . In: Israelreport 2/2008, p. 11 ( online ( memento from January 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.4 MB), accessed on October 5, 2012).