Operation Moses

From the late 1970s thousands of Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) fled famine, civil war and the Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam, walking for weeks to refugee camps in Sudan, where they had to hide their Jewish identity. An estimated 4,000 died of disease, hunger and violence on the way or in the camps. Between 21 November 1984 and 5 January 1985 Israel, with American help and the quiet cooperation of Sudanese officials, secretly flew about 8,000 of them from Khartoum to Israel via Brussels on chartered Trans European Airways planes.

The operation stopped abruptly when news of it leaked to the press, leaving many behind; the American-run Operation Joshua brought out about 500 more in March 1985. The journey built on Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's 1973 ruling recognizing Beta Israel as Jews. The community remembers those who died on the way at a memorial on Mount Herzl, where a state ceremony is held each year on Jerusalem Day.