{"id":31363,"date":"2024-01-09T17:13:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/?page_id=31363"},"modified":"2024-01-09T17:20:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:20:33","slug":"unit-8-operation-brothers-1979-1984","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/unit-8-operation-brothers-1979-1984\/","title":{"rendered":"Unit 8: OPERATION BROTHERS: 1979-1984"},"content":{"rendered":"

MY FAMILY<\/span><\/a>
\nTHE BETA ISRAEL CURRICULUM<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>OPERATION BROTHERS: 1979-<\/u>1984<\/u><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Students should now read the following description of events that occurred between 1979-1984:125<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Given the dire situation in Ethiopia, members of the Beta Israel community already living in Israel held public demonstrations in January and October 1979, at the encouragement of the AAEJ, and demanded that the Israeli government and Jewish Agency do more to bring the Beta Israel \u201cHOME.<\/em>\u201d126<\/sup> Meanwhile the AAEJ held protests at the Israeli consulates in New York and Los Angeles, and Rabbi Avi Weiss, a well-known activist, spoke of the cause with passion at the United Nations\u2019 Isaiah Plaza.127<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Around this time, the AAEJ approached many religious and communal Jewish leaders in the United States and around the world and asked them to show support for the Beta Israel. The involvement of Diaspora Jewry \u201cshowed that not only governments could redeem the imprisoned and save lives; the ordinary man in- the-street Jew could also participate in these lifesaving mitzvot<\/em>.\u201d128<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0As support broadened, particularly in the United States, \u201cone of the\u00a0most important outcomes of the AAEJ\u2019s endeavor [was] to enlist the support of America rabbis was the formation of ARNEJ (American Rabbinic Network for Ethiopian Jewry) primarily through the efforts of Jane Fellman.\u201d129<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0External pressure was gaining serious momentum, and in 1979, \u201cthe Mossad decide[d] to bring the Jews to Israel through Sudan.\u201d130<\/sup> Many Beta Israel members began to walk in that direction.131<\/sup> The Beta Israel community in Israel was organized now under the leadership of Fereda Aklum, an Ethiopian Jew who had crossed through Sudan himself, and he was key to assisting the Mossad in fulfilling its pledge. By mid-1982 \u201csome three thousand of the Beta Israel\u201d132<\/sup> had been brought to Israel in secret missions \u201cby sea, in Operation Bat Galim of the navy\u2019s commando unit, and by air, with Hercules transport planes landing in improvised airfields.\u201d Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom, whose writing and research contributed significantly to this curriculum, was among those brought in these operations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Note: Some of these events were recorded by journalist Raffi Berg in his book <\/em>Red Sea Spies, which describes how the Mossad concealed its mission to bring the Beta Israel to Israel by operating a deep-sea diving resort by day and helping the Beta Israel reach secret ships by night. This story was made into a movie titled, The Red Sea Diving Resort, based on the true events of this mission, Operation Brothers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

How did the Mossad pull off such daring secret operations? \u201cFirst,\u00a0small groups were brought out of the camps to the shore of the Red Sea. There, commandos of the Israeli navy would be waiting to transfer them in rubber dinghies to an Israeli ship anchored on the high seas, and this ship would bring the immigrants to Sharm el-Sheikh, which was still in Israeli hands at the time.\u201d133<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0In his book Red Sea Spies<\/em>, journalist Raffi Berg included an important reflection: \u201cIt is a common misperception that the Ethiopian Jews were \u2018rescued\u2019 by the Mossad. [However], even the Mossad themselves don\u2019t like that terminology, and Ethiopian Jews themselves do not like this term either. There is a very good reason for this, and that is the fact that these communities were indeed agents of their own fate. The Ethiopian Jews were the group that went on this tremendous odyssey, on foot, from Ethiopia across the border into Sudan, and it was a hellish journey\u2026 They climbed over mountains, through deserts and jungles and across rivers, with very little provisions.\u201d134<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Before proceeding, the students should be told to consider (to themselves):<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Imagine you are a member of the Beta Israel, who risked life and limb to immigrate to Israel. How might you feel if you were told you were \u201csaved\u201d by the Mossad? In more general terms, imagine you reach the end of a long and arduous journey, in which you exerted, suffered, and lost so much; upon arrival, you are told that you were \u201csaved\u201d by someone else. How would this make you feel? The unfortunate truth is that the Beta Israel\u2019s journey from Ethiopia to Sudan was harrowing and perilous beyond belief.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thousands of people died along the way from disease, hunger,\u00a0harassment, rape, and violent robberies,135<\/sup> and thousands more were hurt. Each spring, on the 28th of Iyar, <\/em>the State of Israel commemorates the Memorial Day for Ethiopian Jews who Perished on their Way to Israel<\/em>.136<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Students should be asked:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Do you think it\u2019s still important to commemorate a <\/em>Memorial Day for Ethiopian Jews who Perished on their Way to Israel? <\/em>Why or why not? What do you think is the purpose of such commemorations?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
125<\/td>\nIt should be noted that although dubbed \u201cOperation Brothers,\u201d the events that took place between 1979 and1984 were not formally given a title. As Howard Lenhoff writes, \u201c[T]his secret operation was never given a code name. I call it Operation Elijah because Elijah is known as the Prophet who kept \u201d \u2013 The Indiana Jewish Post & Opinion <\/em>(July 9, 1997), p.14. See also Lenhoff, Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes<\/em>, pp. 133-134.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
126<\/td>\nLouis Rapoport, Redemption Song<\/em>, p. 61 (as quoted in Graenum Berger, Rescue the Ethiopian Jews! A memoir<\/em>, 1955-1995, 99).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
127<\/td>\nBerger, Rescue the Ethiopian Jews! A memoir<\/em>, 1955-1995<\/em>, 98.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
128<\/td>\nLenhoff, Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes<\/em>, 144.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
129<\/td>\nIbid. p. 151.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
130<\/td>\nIt should be noted that the idea traveling through Sudan was first suggested by Baruch Tegegne, a prominent Ethiopian Jewish leader, to Howard Lenhoff, then-President of the AAEJ, in February See Lenhoff, Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes<\/em>, p. 102.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
131<\/td>\nShalom, From Sinai to Ethiopia<\/em>, 71.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
132<\/td>\nFeldman, On Wings of Eagles: The Secret Operation of the Ethiopian Exodus<\/em>, p. xvi.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
133<\/td>\nIbid.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
134<\/td>\n\u201cRed Sea Spies: The True Story of Mossad\u2019s Fake Diving Resort:<\/a> an interview with Raf f i Berg,\u201d Fathom<\/em><\/a> Journal <\/em>(2020): https:\/\/<\/a> org\/red-sea-spies-the-true-story-of-mossads-fake-<\/a> diving-resort-an-interview-with-raffi-berg\/<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
135<\/td>\nMemorial Day for Ethiopian Jews who Perished on their Way to Israel\u00a0– 28th of Iyar, The Knesset Lexicon: <\/em>https:\/\/m.knesset.gov.il\/en\/about\/<\/a> lexicon\/pages\/yom_zik_ethiopian.aspx<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
136<\/td>\nIbid.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MY FAMILY THE BETA ISRAEL CURRICULUM OPERATION BROTHERS: 1979-1984 \u00a0Students should now read the following description of events that occurred between 1979-1984:125 \u00a0Given the dire situation in Ethiopia, members of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":30932,"parent":0,"menu_order":79,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-31363","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}