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Operation Solomon: The Daring Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews

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Stephen Spector has written a riveting, meticulously researched, suspenseful history of Operation Solomon. The previously untold stories of this event involve a missing $35 million, hostages and heroism. This book appeals to a broad readership, with Bible prophecy fulfillment, return to the Promised Land, perilous journeys, political machinations, personal sacrifice and much more. An uplifting story of triumph over adversity.

Israel has been making good on its task of being a refuge for Jews. In the decade prior to 1948, hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of Jewish lives would have been saved had Israel existed. They would have moved to Israel much as Jews actually did in 1948 and the next few years. In those days, Jews reached Israel from Europe, Yemen and elsewhere. But not too many showed up from Ethiopia. And this book begins by explaining why.

One complication is that the Ethiopian Jews are not genetically related to the Ashkenazic (German) or Sephardic (Spanish) Jews. Does that mean that they are not really Jews? Well, that's up to Israel and some of its rabbis and other leaders to decide. They certainly look like Jews to me, but I'm a Pagan, and my opinion isn't relevant. On the other hand, they also look like Jews to some Israelis rabbis whose opinion is relevant. And it seems that there may well be a third branch of Jews, in addition to the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim.

When Golda Meir was the Prime Minister of Israel, she showed little interest in bringing the Ethiopians to Israel, in part because she feared that it would endanger Israeli relations with Ethiopia and other African nations. But Menachim Begin felt that Israel's claim to be a Zionist state would be sabotaged unless it could bring Ethiopian Jews into the country. As for the Ethiopian Jews, most of them not only wanted to immigrate to Israel but were willing to risk their lives to do so.

Unfortunately, after the Yom Kippur War, most African nations, including Ethiopia, broke diplomatic relations with Israel.

That's where this book starts, and it continues by describing the rescue of Ethiopian Jews, over 94,000 of whom now live in Israel. The most exciting part is about the airlift of over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in May, 1991 (Operation Solomon). It happened quickly. The first plane left Addis Ababa at 1:30 PM on May 24, and the final one, less than a day later, at 11:35 AM on May 25, with the planes crossing the Red Sea, of course.

I found the book very exciting, as it described the wars and revolutions that confronted everyone in the region, as well as the various bribes that people had to pay to try to free the Ethiopian Jews. And I feel it has a moral: the oppressed can indeed be liberated, and people will show courage and strength to help liberate themselves and to liberate others.

It took the government of Israel nearly three decades to take significant steps to bring the Jews of Ethiopia to Israel, as Mitchell G. Bard of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise wrote, but when it did finally make a commitment to do so in the late 1970s, it carried out daring and dramatic operations. The story of Operation Solomon--how Israel evacuated more than 14,000 Jews in less than thirty-six hours--is the subject of Spector's fascinating and well-documented history.

Following the first large-scale rescue in 1984, Israel learned that the Ethiopian Jewish population was far larger than previously thought. Their predicament became increasingly dire as Ethiopia dissolved into civil war. By 1990-91, thousands of Jews were identified by American activists who provided them humanitarian assistance and called on Israel to allow them all to come to Israel.

The Ethiopian government, however, saw its Jews as bargaining chips and did not want to let them go without extracting a price from Israel. Initially, it sought weapons but ultimately settled for a large payment of cash.

The U.S. government played a key role. Diplomats, Senator Rudy Boschwitz, and President George H.W. Bush all weighed in to secure Ethiopian permission to allow the Jews to leave. Spector does not give Bush the credit he deserves, presenting him as merely signing off on the requests of others rather than himself strongly supporting the rescue. This is an example of the one weakness of the book, which is that it is missing the historical context of the story, in this case, Bush's direct involvement, when vice president, in negotiations with Sudan for the earlier rescue of the Ethiopian Jews.

Spector has interviewed many of the key players and done a good job of sorting out the relative influence of Israeli, Ethiopian, and American officials, activists, and Jewish organizational leaders. It is a marvelous story, and there is enough credit to go around, but Spector also reveals the underside, especially some of the petty jealousies, particularly among the Israelis, that hindered the rescue.

This remarkable book tells the history of the rescue and homecoming of the Jews of Ethiopia. In Ethiopia they were known as "Falasha" which means Landless, an Exile or a Wanderer. They called themselves Beta Israel (House of Israel) and in the 1980s the community decided to make Aliyah to Israel. The highlight of this narrative is the actual Operation Solomon, when more than 14 000 of the Beta Israel were airlifted to Israel in May 1991.

Based on about 200 interviews with people in Ethiopia, Israel, the UK and the USA plus many articles and documents, the book offers a tale of chilling suspense, great sacrifice and awesome courage and joy. The constant political intrigue leading up to the airlift made it a risky enterprise from various angles.

Ethiopia was in a state of turmoil as the liberation movements were winning the civil war against dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. Eventually Addis Abeba was surrounded. For more than a year, the Beta Israel stayed in terrible conditions in the city as the Ethiopian tyrant tried to use them to get weapons from Israel to fight his enemies.

Spector describes how, at the height of the tension as the buses reached the airport from the Israeli embassy compound, the people calmly and patiently waited their turn. This was one of the main reasons the operation succeeded. From Friday 24th May to Saturday 25th May, 34 hours and 4 minutes after the first plane left Ben Gurion Airport, the mission was accomplished: 14 310 Beta Israel were safe in their true homeland. Forty-one military and El Al aircraft took part.

One of the organizers is quoted as saying that it was a very disorganized miracle. But a miracle it was, as once again Israel plucked Jews out of danger. The moving reception of the Beta Israel at Ben Gurion airport was filled with wonder and elation, reminiscent of scenes from the Bible. Those who were still left behind were permitted to go from mid September of that year and in 1992, the 2000 Jews of Quara were also relocated to Israel.

There are three appendices: 1. Annual and Monthly Emigration from Addis Abeba to Israel, 1977 - 2003; 2. The number of people brought to Israel in operation Solomon; 3. A conversation with Kassa Kabede, a former Ethiopian official involved in the operation. The book includes Notes and an extensive bibliography of books, scholarly articles, press articles, public and unpublished documents, private memoirs, reports, correspondence and notes, plus oral history interviews. The 16pp. of plates contain black and white photographs of the action and of some of the people who were involved.

Operation Solomon was a highlight in the history of Israel. After all the politics, intrigue, secret deals and obstacles, the Jews of Ethiopia were delivered. The book reads like a thriller and has one on edge until the last plane had landed at Ben Gurion. Divine Providence must have played a part for things to have turned out so well. I highly recommend this suspenseful and uplifting book that portrays living history in such a compelling manner.

Over 14,000 black Ethiopian Jews were airlifted from Addis Ababa to Israel within a day and a half in 1991. It is an outstanding event in Jewish history, an outstanding achievement for Israel and its helpers among the Jews of the world.

This book tells the story in exciting detail. The author, a professor of English at SUNY Stonybrook, guides us through the labyrinthian detail of infighting, political machination, financial hanky-panky, but eventual triumph. His tone throughout is admirably objective. He tells us about the arguments for and against the project. He leaves it to the reader to provide a final judgement, but there will be few who can withhold admiration for the achievements of those most closely associated with this airlift.

Among these latter, notably, is a group of American Jews who stood outside the Jewish establishment and, often acting fanatically, seem to have made all the difference. One of these, Susan Pollack, deserves more than a footnote when the history of modern Judaism is written.

The author has interviewed hundreds, both in Israel and the United States, and he seems to have read everything that has any bearing on the subject. One of the best features of the book is the exhaustive bibliography and suggestions for further reading, which are sprinkled throughout the book.

But since the author is not an expert on either Ethiopia or Ethiopian Jews, there are some notable weaknesses in the book. To understand more about the whole project of Ethiopian immigration to Israel, we need to know more about the culture and religion of the Beta Israel, the Ethiopian Jews. This author is not much help. He does tell us, for example, that a religious leader among the Beta Israel is called a "ques," a "Jewish priest." But how many are there of these ? How does one become a ques ? What education is involved ? Are there any rivalries among the "quessotch" ?

The author also tells us that the language of the Beta Israel is Amharic. But we know from other sources that this is true of only 80% of the Ethiopian Jews of Israel, the rest speaking Tigrinya, the official language of Eritrea. This fact is never mentioned in the book.

The author is also fairly innocent of knowledge about Ethiopian ethnic groups. He tells us (p. 136), on the authority of gossip by an American embassy official, that "Oromo kids" created havoc on the streets of Addis Ababa at a certain point. Anyone more sophisticated about inter-ethnic conflict in Ethiopia would be wary about making such a reckless, undocumented charge.

In the end, the book is what it is: a remarkably detailed, documented account of one of the greatest events in Jewish history. And it is also a scholarly guide to some of the literature of the historic and ethnographic context. It would be churlish to ask for more.

I have not read this yet, but have heard about it. We are glad to find any product that can help us understand our children's Ethiopian history and share with them as they get older.

This is the kind of book that promises to tell about something but wraps it up in so much extra stuff that the core issue fades in the background.

The core issue is how 14,310 Ethiopian Jews got airlifted into Israel in about a day and a half in 1991; the extra stuff is geopolitics and babble.

I didn't get to page 50 because -though I am interested in the subject- I was bored to death. I don't care what happened behind doors in Washington or Moscow. Just make a summary of it and give me the facts.

Here's a sample narrative: "... Herman Cohen, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, traveled to Addis to explore brokering peace in the Ethiopian conflict. Cohen told Mengistu that improved relations with the United States would be conditioned on several principal points..."

Now, whom is this babble addressed to? If I were one of the people airlifted in the story, and I had just this book to show to my children, so they knew what it was like, I would feel cheated, 'cause the book ain't really about my experiences.

Will you please, Professors, come back to real life?

What on earth is the point of inventing Jewish roots concerning these deceptive Ethiopians when everybody knows too well why they became Jews: only because it was the only possibility for them to immigrate to Israel only for economic reasons (to flee their undescribable poverty).

Were these Ethiopians Jews in Ethiopia? NO! NEVER EVER!! They were Christians! A significant number of them in Israel returned to their Christian faith even though most of them decided to keep being Jew because they felt it was safer for them to do so in Israel (despite the fact that there is freedom of faith for Christians and Muslims)!!

In the history of the Jewish people, there has never ever been members of the Jewish people who were black. Never! Blacks can become Jews today through conversion if they convert without inventing false stories but there is not a group of Jews in the history of the Jewish people who were black Jews! NEVER!
I already hear some people reading my comments who might be tempted to say that I am racist but I am telling these people that I am fine accepting blacks who convert to Judaism without inventing false stories in order to convert. To invent false stories in order to convert renders the conversion process completely invalid!!

To have converted Jewish Orthodox these Ethiopians do not make them Jews in any way simply because they used deception to convert to Judaism with the goal of immigrating to Israel ONLY FOR ECONOMIC REASONS. They converted only to flee their awful poverty that they were suffering in Ethiopia where they were living in mud huts and nearly all of them, except their leaders, were completely illiterate (they could not read nor write and they did not have access to the simplest books or writing items!!). Later on, these American Jews who have pushed them to convert gave them books, taught them how to read, and more.

Why did they become Jews? American Jews who did not want to move to Israel felt guilty by their lack of willingness to move to Israel. They were working on outreach projects in Ethiopia and saw that these people were potentially ready to convert in order to move to Israel with the only goal of fleeing their poverty. They made them Jews by teaching them Judaism, giving their leaders Old Testament books to read and so on. Worse, they invented for them Jewish roots, telling the Jewish world that these Ethiopians were Jews!!! What a shame!!
Then, they showed movies of them with Jewish items and praying and they told the viewers of these movies that they have kept Jewish traditions for centuries!! What an awful deception!

All these books on the so-called Ethiopian Jews and the movies about them, they are all completely invented stories where these Ethiopian are given completely invented Jewish roots!

This book deserves a zero because it is based on pure lies!! That is as simple as that!!