
Special Video of Operation Solomon, the 1991 Airlift of 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel
Covert operation to airlift over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 36 hours.
For months prior to the airlift, JDC had played a critical, behind-the-scenes role, working together with the Israeli government, the Jewish Agency and the American Jewish community. JDC coordinated the activities of a coalition of major American Jewish organizations, which lobbied the U.S. government for a sustained diplomatic initiative, including the personal intervention of President Bush-to secure the release of Ethiopia’s Jews.
In cooperation with the Israeli embassy, JDC staff monitored food and fuel supplies in the embassy compound, bus transportation to the waiting planes, access to computerized case files, and an outreach system to summon the population to the compound once Operation Solomon had begun.