Operation Solomon

Dates

May 24-25, 1991 — at the height of the Ethiopian civil war (the Mengistu regime on the verge of collapse).

The numbers

• 14,325 people (including 7 in-flight births)
• 35 aircraft: El Al + 757 + IAF (Israeli Air Force)
• Just 36 hours from the first aircraft to the last
• One of the densest airlifts in history — a single flight carried 1,088 people (Guinness record)

Pre-operation

• Hundreds of Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) had reached Addis Ababa during 1990 under the promise of an aliyah track
• PM Yitzhak Shamir led; Minister Ariel Sharon directed operations
• "Operation Solomon" — codename after King Solomon (by tradition, Ethiopian Jews trace ancestry to him)
• The U.S. mediated negotiations with the Mengistu regime — Israel paid $35M for the release

Community significance

• One of the foundational moments in communal memory
• "1991" carries weight — the 1991 generation calls themselves "Sons of Solomon"
• An anchor for community memory of the second generation

Post-operation absorption

• Centers: Azrieli, Mevasseret Zion, Netanya, Haifa
• Challenges: language (Amharic/Tigrinya, little Hebrew), employment, child education
• A large wave required dedicated resources — the klita basket became a generalized structure

See also

• Operation Moses — the previous wave
• Aliyah from Ethiopia — the overall survey