This week in History: Operation Moses begins

Although Ethiopian exodus has taken over 25 years thus far, it pales in comparison to 40 years its namesake required to lead Exodus from Egypt.

  On November 21, 1984, a seven-week clandestine operation to bring Falash Mura Ethiopian Jews to Israel began. The unprecedented undertaking, code-named “Operation Moses,” was a three-way collaboration between the Mossad, the CIA and Sudanese State Security (SSS) to smuggle nearly 8,000 Falash Mura out of refugee camps in Sudan in a massive airlift to Israel. Operation Moses turned out to be the beginning of large-scale, official Israeli efforts to facilitate a Falash Mura aliyah that continues to this day.

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel ruled that Ethiopian Jews had the right to immigrate to the country under the Law of Return in 1975. A few years later, small-scale efforts had already begun to bring individual and small groups of Falash Mura to Israel. However, these efforts, undertaken through semi-official and sometimes illegal channels quickly became impractical and too difficult to continue. A larger-scale covert operation would be necessary.
Read the rest of the story on: The Jerusalem Post