Israeli Delusions Of Grandeur

Today is the 20th anniversary of Operation Solomon, the rescue brought 14,310 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 36 hours as the communist government of Ethiopia collapsed. While the rescue was a tremendous achievement for Israel, it was negotiated by and made possible by the United States Government – a fact Israeli media, government and intelligentsia often ignores.

 

Before you read Shalva Weil's article posted below, here are some salient that are not made clear by Dr. Weil:

1. The US negotiated and largely paid for the rescue, just as it negotiated and largely paid for Operation Moses and Joshua before it.

2. US Ambassador Rudy Boschwitz served as a special representative of the President George H.W. Bush and deserves much credit for the rescue as does President Bush.

3. Israel did not tell Ethiopian Jews to gather at the AAEJ compound. Susan Polack of the AAEJ did it on her own, against the wishes of Israel. Gathering the Jews in one place made the rescue possible, and therefore Pollack also deserves much credit for the rescue. What she and Boschwitz did made the rescue possible. Without them, there would have been no Operation Solomon – which, from my personal experience with him, would have been fine with Prime Minister Shamir.

4. None of this information (except, perhaps, the Shamir government's antipathy to the plight of Ethiopian Jews) is secret. It all public. In fact, it is the backbone of Stephen Spector's book – a book Weil mentions but does not accurately cite.

5. Israel, and to a lesser extent Jewish organizations like the Federations, play down the US role. For these American Jewish organizations, that happens because it boosts fundraising by making their own roles look far more important than they really were. For Israel, it happens for a number of complex reasons – foremost among them, I think, an internal need to reassert Israel's machismo at a time when it has suffered militarily at the hands of Hezbollah and Hamas.

6. American activists – especially Nate Shapiro of the AAEJ – also played key roles in Operation Solomon. Again, much of what Shapiro and others did is now public information, yet Weil does not mention it.

7. The Israelis who flew the planes and who worked on the ground are also heroes, as are the everyday citizens of Israel who did so many spontaneous acts of kindness to welcome these poor Ethiopian Jews home.

8. On a personal note, I played no role in Operation Solomon, and I make no claims of doing so. I just find it incredibly irritating (and dangerous) that Israelis downplay or ignore the people who did make this rescue happen, unless those people happen to be Israelis, and that many American Jewish leaders now do the same.

9. When people distort history, they create myths that can later lead to disaster if they are believed and acted upon. Just ask the families of any of the Ethiopian Jews who died waiting for rescue pre-Operation Moses. We should not want to risk the lives of future endangered Jewish communities because we chose to believe distorted history, mythologized it and then viewed Israel's willingness to act and its capability to act alone through those distorted eyes.

10. Weil misstates the number of Ethiopian Jews who died in Operation Moses. After Israeli politicians (some from the National Religious Party and some Labor) and American Jewish leaders leaked the operation, Sudan's leader killed Operation Moses. 3,000 Jews tried to walk back to Ethiopia. Most died on the way. That is on top of those who died in theose horrible, diease-ridden refugee camps.

Operation Solomon 20 Years On
Twenty years after Operation Solomon – Israel's dramatic airlift of Jews out of Ethiopia – normalization has almost set in between the two countries. Not only are Ethiopian Jews now being permitted to immigrate to Israel, but those who fled are also returning to Ethiopia as Israelis.
Shalva Weil • ISN Insights

At the end of May 1991, plane after plane brought 14,310 Ethiopian Jews to Israel within a day and a half in an amazing airlift, as the future of Jews in Ethiopia and the future of the Ethiopian government known as the Derg, hung in the balance. The pictures that appeared over and over again on the world's television screens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews, dressed in white traditional costume with exquisite hand-woven embroidery, silently filing into the airplanes in order to fulfill the dream of their forefathers of immigrating to Zion, remains imprinted in collective memory. The Jews of Ethiopia had prayed for hundreds of years to return to the land of their fathers.

In 1984-5, some of the Ethiopian Jews - then known by the stigmatic name "Falashas" meaning "strangers" or "outsiders" - had been flown to Israel from the refugee camps of the Sudan in Operation Moses. The head of the military junta, Mengistu Haile Mariam, refused to let the "Falasha" leave Ethiopia. So during the night, Ethiopian Jews stole into the Sudan and from there were airlifted out to Israel by the Mossad. But the airlift was stopped in the middle, after it became known that the Sudanese government, supposedly an enemy of Israel, was implicated. Four-thousand Ethiopian Jews had perished on the journey from Ethiopia to the Sudan, or in the refugee camps. After Operation Moses was terminated, the remaining Jews returned to their villages in Ethiopia and waited. From 1985-1991, a few thousand Ethiopian Jews tried reaching the "Promised Land" by other illegal routes. They wished to be reunited with their families in Jerusalem.

Then an obscure American woman by the name of Susan Pollack, the resident director of the American Association for Ethiopian Jews (AAEJ) in the capital city of Addis Abeba, an advocacy organization whose raison d'etre was "rescue", intervened. She went from village to village, primarily in the Gondar area of Ethiopia, gathering up Ethiopian Jews and encouraging them to travel to the capital city of Addis Abeba with a view to emigrating to Israel. As the Jews streamed to the capital from 1990-1991, rebel Ethiopian forces headed by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi Meles, Chairman of the Tigrai Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which opposed the military junta of Mengistu Haile Mariam, were knocking at the gates waiting to take over the government. Negotiations at the governmental level involving the United States, Israel, Ethiopia and possibly other countries were held to release the Jews and airlift them to Israel.

Unsolved mysteries

Still fascinating today, 20 years after what became known as Operation Solomon, is the mystery regarding $35 million that was transferred from Israel to Ethiopia in exchange for the release of Ethiopian Jewry, in the race against time before the Marxist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam collapsed. At first, the representative of the Ethiopian government, Kassa Kebede, who today lives in Washington, provided the Israelis with an erroneous bank account number in New York; it was a bonds rather than cash account. More troublesome was the fact that the number was that of a private account and not an official Ethiopian government account.

According to Professor Stephen Spector, who wrote a book about Operation Solomon based on 200 oral history interviews conducted with experts on Ethiopian Jewry, Ethiopian Jewish activists, Israelis involved in the rescue and US Representatives of Congress, the correct bank account number may finally have been provided by Bob Houdek, Chief of Mission in the American Embassy in Ethiopia from 1988 to 1991, who then transferred the information to Israeli Ambassador Asher Naim, who later wrote: "It took Kasa more than two hours to finally come up with the correct number. We took maximum precautions to ensure that no one, but no one, except 'the legal government of Ethiopia' could touch the money. It was in an account that could only be released by the State Department's confirmation of a legal and recognized [Ethiopian] government after the London peace conference. We could only hope that the money would be spent for the benefit of the Ethiopia's [sic] poor".

In hindsight, one cannot help raising an eyebrow at the naivety of the Israeli establishment; on the other hand, without the transfer of huge sums of money to whatever source, the Ethiopian Jews would not have been transferred to Israel today. According to an Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, the money was inherited by the new Ethiopian government, and not taken by an individual.

The impact

As the last Jews flew out of Ethiopia, the Derg collapsed and Zenawi took over. In 1995, he was elected Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and re-elected for a second term in 2000. The results of the last legislative elections in 2005, were disputed by contesting parties and led to the death of 193 Ethiopians, but as opposed to some other African leaders, Zenawi managed to squash all protest. Violations of human rights are regularly reported by opposition parties, but the western world appears disinterested. The latest incident occurred on 20 April when Zenawi's representative in the Tigray region, Abay Woldu, with the aid of Federal Police, suppressed a protest with tear gas against the demolition of houses in the city of Mekele in Tigray province, which left thousands homeless. Nevertheless, against all odds, Zenawi has stayed in power for a full 20 years, and, despite the fierce war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in which thousands have purportedly been killed, Ethiopia has remained the most stable country in the Horn of Africa.

Whereas once King Solomon was visited by the Queen of Sheba, who probably originated in Ethiopia, today visits between Ethiopia and Israel are increasingly frequent. Whereas before Operation Solomon, there were no direct flights to Ethiopia from Israel, today Ethiopian Airlines has a monopoly on several direct flights per week between the two countries. Some of these flights are full of new immigrants, the so-called "Felesmura" , 8,700 of whom now have permission to migrate to the Jewish state. In the opposite direction, veteran immigrants, who may have arrived in Israel during Operation Solomon, are often flying to Ethiopia on "roots" trips, or for commercial ventures. The Jerusalem market, Mahanei Yehuda, is full of Ethiopian products from teff, the special nutritious grain grown in Ethiopia, to Ethiopian jewellery and clothes. Several Israeli Ethiopian Jews have import-export businesses, while others are embarking upon agricultural projects in Ethiopia.

Until 1991, Ethiopian Jews were not allowed by Emperor Haile Selassie, or his successor Mengistu Haile Mariam, to leave Ethiopia on the pretext that the "Falashas" were Ethiopian citizens. Today, 20 years after Operation Solomon, normalization has almost set in, and, in addition to the "Felesmura" who are now being permitted to immigrate to Israel, Ethiopians are now returning from the Ethiopian "diaspora" in Israel to Ethiopia as Israelis.

Dr Shalva Weil is Senior Researcher at the Research Institute for Innovation in Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and President of the Society for the Study of Ethiopian Jews (SOSTEJE).

Here is some video footage of Operation Solomon:

 

Comments

[Moshe aron Kestenbaum,Williamsburg ODA]

And yes Baruch Tegegne's efforts were also not appreciated his deeds and righteous cause were heroic, and inspired us all. Baruch Tegegne's name will be remembered for generations to come and may His Memory Never Die. Amen

[Leibel Schenkel]

If what you are saying is true, then why do you have such hatred for the Lubavitcher Rebbe O"bm? After all, the irreligious Israeli government didn't care too much about the Ethiopians either! At least in Crowb Heights the Negroes are able to live in where & how they want, not like in the Israeli absorption centers.

[alwaysright]

Posted by: Leibel Schenkel | May 24, 2011 at 02:15 PM

Dont use racist hate terms. You filthy pig
Shmarya please look in to this

[tooclose2detroit]

Dont use racist hate terms. You filthy pig
Shmarya please look in to this

Posted by: alwaysright

"please look into this"-what r u-a juvenile little girly?-"please look into this"-uhh, dumbass, i suppose you get offended by the United Negro College Fund's use of the word negro also, right?-what a brainwashed little putz-"please look into this"-how many years of college did it take to emasculate you, anyhow?

[alwaysright]

Posted by: tooclose2detroit | May 24, 2011 at 04:02 PM

You can try to insult me all you want, i couldn't care less what a hater like you says

Standing up against injustice, isn't girly (not that there is anything wrong with that) or emasculating

UNCF is a exception, and should be changed IMHO

to use the N word when referring to black people is derogatory/racist and should not be tolerated

P.S. i believe that african americans are entitled to restitution for slavery

[aaa]

And if your child brought home a non-Jewish black person would you still play the same tune? Just a question from someone who hasd dated many black Jews.

[Yoel Mechanic]

Posted by: tooclose2detroit | May 24, 2011 at 04:02 PM

I like your style! :) but on this blog there is a rule against name calling. And this rule is expected to be followed, along with the rule of using logical arguments (I would presume this include fact based & data driven arguments too. That fits in with logic too, doesn't it?)

[tooclose2detroit]

to use the N word when referring to black people is derogatory/racist and should not be tolerated

P.S. i believe that african americans are entitled to restitution for slavery

Posted by: alwaysright

he said negro, not the N word-you really don't know that there is a difference?-and the United NEGRO college fund should change it right away?-well, apparently THEY disagree with you-apparently THEY think there is a difference-and, please, change your name to alwaysLEFT-I've no doubt it is enormously more accurate than the moniker you have chosen.

[tooclose2detroit]

I like your style! :) but on this blog there is a rule against name calling. And this rule is expected to be followed, along with the rule of using logical arguments (I would presume this include fact based & data driven arguments too. That fits in with logic too, doesn't it?)

Posted by: Yoel Mechanic

rule about name calling??-hahahahahahaha-that rule is broken as often as a Fiat (fix it again tony)-miss right called someone a pig for using the word negro-uhh, maybe she likes pigs, and it was a compliment-"please investigate this"-take some testosterone, Miss Right.

[tooclose2detroit]

P.S. i believe that african americans are entitled to restitution for slavery

Posted by: alwaysrigh

i happen to agree with you on this-and, coincidentally, the movement is being funded by Cadillac-now why the hell would that be?

[aaa]

2 close. As always You da man.

[Yakira]

tooclose2detroit: MOST AFRICAN-AMERICANS DO NOT LIKE BEING CALLED NEGROES BY OTHER RACES!! I'm also quite sure that the Ethiopian Jews also would not appreciate anybody referring to them as negroes! Alwaysright has a legitimate point; the context in which Leibel Schenkel uses the term is sarcastic and obnoxious.

[PishPosh]

@aaa
My teenage daughters 2 best girlfriends are Black and Korean respectively. They work well in supporting each other to get the class notes, homework assignments if one of them was out sick and eye on the goal of learning and attaining good grades. That done they have a lot of fun. Im glad I didnt send my daughter to a Beis Yacov school. She is meeting and interacting and learning about people other then Jews in her life, but she gets her Judaism and Zionism at home from me and we are not Orthodox, but I will put her moral character and Jewish pride against any of those Yeshiva assembly line kids.

[Yoel Mechanic]

>rule about name calling??-hahahahahahaha-that rule is broken as often as....

Um, well, what if the person calling someone a name actually believes that name fits the person according to their perception of the "facts"? You can't argue with facts. So if the person really truly is a pig, and you call them a pig isn't this merely a factual statement and *not* name calling? In this way you will see the rule of no-name-calling is usually followed. Right??

[tooclose2detroit]

uhh, no-not right-how does one even define how a person can be called a pig?-the only way that it would not be an insult would be, in fact, if the person were indeed not a person, but were, in fact, a pig-If they were a person, then to call them a pig would be an obvious insult, since there are obviously no objective definitions that one could utilize to determine that one's actions would warrant them being called a pig---now, if a pig went around calling blacks-(err,african americans-sorry bout that miss right-better have me investigated by scotty!) negroes, then, i suppose you could call someone that called blacks (damn-there i go again!)- negroes, a pig-but, since pigs dont call A2's negroes, ya cant really apply that acton to deserving of that name-so there.

[tooclose2detroit]

MOST AFRICAN-AMERICANS DO NOT LIKE BEING CALLED NEGROES BY OTHER RACES!!
Yakira

Then I will ask you the same question I asked alwaysleft-why the f dont they change the name of the United NEGRO college fund???-why arent they out there protesting to change such a horrible and offensive name??-and, while we are at it, why the f dont they change the name of the congressional BLACK caucus to the Congressional African American caucus-the answer, obviously, is that these names dont REALLY bother them all that much, and the only reason that Jesse Jerkoff and all their other leaders constantly change their moniker frrequently is to be able to keep easily molded fools like yourself (sorry Yoel-in THIS case, the name IS accurate, so I guess it's allowed) jumping and feeling guilty so that they will always have something to hold over YOUR head to feel guilty about, instead of making the damned changes THEY need to make in order to succeed in society. Like, not having babies by the millions out of wedlock that they have no idea how to support, and therefore creating a society where these children will fail miserably in school, and of course blame their poverty on EVERYONE else. But, no doubt, my rantings will not pierce the liberal skull on this or any other issue-as I get older, it seems that there is simply a genetic difference between liberals and conservatives that will never be bridged.

[Yoel Mechanic]

>Yoel-in THIS case, the name IS accurate, so I guess it's allowed

You're catching on ;-)

>genetic difference between liberals and conservatives that will never be bridged.

there exist neo-conservatives, and neo-liberals. switches do occur

[Teddy]

Who cares what African-Yanks like to call themselves, when the article concerns African-Israelis?

[tooclose2detroit]

>genetic difference between liberals and conservatives that will never be bridged.

there exist neo-conservatives, and neo-liberals. switches do occur

Posted by: Yoel Mechanic

yes, and sometimes babies are born with 2 heads-I am not talking about genetic defects-in my mind, anyone who can't grasp how ridiculously illogical and inconsistent it is for a group of people to say they hate being called negro, and yet still have the united negro college fund, or to kvetch how horrifying the true N word is, and yet listen all day by the millions to hiphop monsters that scream that same word, is someone that logic will simply have no effect upon.

[tooclose2detroit]

kind of like those that call Beck and Limbaugh anti semites and anti Israel when these guys dedicate countless hours of their shows to defending the Jewish people and Israel-I dont know how the liberal mind can become so void of logic that they would actually shoot those in the back that are standing in front of us to defend us, but, they do-and to me THAT is the definition of insanity.

[Yakira]

tooclose2detroit: I agree that UNCF should change their name but I disagree about the Congressional Black Caucus changing its name. The term black is not offensive. First of all, what the f do you care and what gives you the right to tell any African-American what to call himself?? It is easily to discern from your comment about blacks having children out of wedlock that you have the intelligence of a squirrel. There are just as many whites, latinos, asians, etc. who are also having children out of wedlock. You probably can't even list 5 african-americans that you know personally; in addition, it is obvious that you get all of your stereotypical info from the "idiot box".

[tooclose2detroit]

wrongo, tootsypoo-they DO find black offensive-when it fits their fancy and they can use it as a club to make you feel guilty--many companies have "sensitivity training seminars" where the employees are forced to learn that only "african american" is an acceptable term-and, re the amount of out of wedlock birth-what are you willing to wager that, percentage-wise, the out of wedlock birthrate in the black community is much higher than in the white and asian communities-not sure about the Hispanic-o-cant use THAT term anymore either-how could I be so insensitive??

[tooclose2detroit]

You probably can't even list 5 african-americans that you know personally; in addition, it is obvious that you get all of your stereotypical info from the "idiot box".

Posted by: Yakira |

you're right-I know plenty of black personally, but not one of them knows jack about Africa, so they are not african americans-except to those like you that have allowed the dominant media to use your brains as "slave computers" to transmit their insanity.-ya wanna bet me a lewinsky about the out of wedlock birthrate, miss libbyknowitall??

[tooclose2detroit]

i guess yer afraid to put yer money where you mouth is.

[Yakira]

Did you read my first comment at all?? Most of us don't know jack about Africa and neither do you. That has nothing to do with my opinion that we are African-Americans. Most of black americans' ancestors came from somewhere in Africa but we will never know exactly which country, tribe, or clan we came from because of know-it-all white americans. So you see, we can't use any other description other than African-Americans. When I stated "that you personally know 5 black people", I didn't mean the ones you see on TV or the ones you talked to for a few minutes on the streets.

[Yakira]

Negroes is too close to nigger; furthermore, when a white person says it, it has a different meaning. I have better things to do with my money than to gamble with it on the internet- only an idiot would do something stupid like that. My question to you is what gives you the right to TELL AN ENTIRE CULTURE WHAT TO CALL THEMSELVES??!!