Over the span of 36 hours between May 24 and 25, 1991, the largest-ever Aliyah rescue mission was carried out, dubbed Operation Solomon. This complex mission led to the rescue of more than 14,300 Ethiopian Jews, and is the largest mission of its kind from any country in the world to date, according to the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Ethiopian Jews had lived for centuries in Ethiopia, but faced persecution, isolation, and hardship. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ethiopia was engulfed in civil war, with the government weakening and rebel groups gaining ground. Political distress and a growing civil war in Ethiopia left residents seeking stability and safety. People who traveled to Israel via Operation Solomon recalled being woken up by parents in the middle of the night, being told to grab a few items, and to “be ready.”
Israel and Ethiopia renewed diplomatic ties in 1989 after 16 years of separation, which allowed several hundred Jews to immigrate to Israel monthly in a family reunification program, under Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. As the security situation intensified in 1991, conflicts between the central government and Mengistu’s opponents intensified. The fate of the country’s Jewish population was at risk, leading to a rapid-response operation.
Operation Solomon was one of the largest mass airlift operation
The local government was paid roughly $35 million, with the assistance of donations from the diaspora Jewish community, namely Americans, to secure their safe passage.
Hundreds of IDF soldiers, dressed in civilian clothing, helped carry out the mission, transporting the masses from Addis Ababa to Ben Gurion Airport. Israel’s Air Force utilized mostly Boeing 747s to transport the group; with one plane carrying 1,000 passengers. This single plane set a world record for the most people on a single aircraft.
This mission was carried out in secret to avoid further complications from the ongoing problems in the area, and has since been deemed a major humanitarian success. This operation acts as a historic example of Israel’s commitment to bringing Jews from around the world to Israel.
It remains one of the largest and fastest mass airlift operations in history.
The dramatic operation was named “Operation Solomon,” after King Solomon, who met the Queen of Sheba in the biblical narrative.
"Operation Solomon was a rescue aliyah operation. It was a historic chapter that attests to the ability and desire of the people of Israel to rescue Jews anywhere in the world,” says former shaliach (emissary) Avi Mizrahi, who at the time of Operation Solomon was in charge of Ethiopian airport operations for The Jewish Agency, along with then-IDF deputy chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak.
“Thousands of people participated, including Jewish Agency staff in Ethiopia and Israel, in cooperation with all of the parties involved – the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mossad, the IDF and especially the air force, American Jewry and the Jewish Federations of North America JFNA [then UJA], as well as the American Association for Ethiopian Jews. More than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews were spared from decades of waiting, arriving in Israel via air shuttles within 24 hours,” Mizrahi said in an interview marking the 30-year anniversary in 2021.
Since the operation, the Ethiopian population in Israel continues to grow and flourish. Israel has since continued to conduct other smaller operations to bring remaining Ethiopian Jews to Israel, with Operation Moses pre-dating Solomon, taking place in 1984, and smaller, less-publicized operations that followed.
Operation Solomon remains a powerful symbol of rescue and solidarity within the global Jewish community.
