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A MOST PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Operation Moses A MOST PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Operation Moses NEALE KATZ, L.L.D. Director, Jerusalem Office, United Israel Appeal (Retired) and IRVING KESSLER, M.S.W. Executive Vice Chairman Emeritus, United Israel Appeal Operation Moses was an extraordinary rescue achieved by the Jewish world. Efforts by a combination of the Israeli and U.S. governments and Israeli and U.S.-based organizations resulted in this dramatic airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. This article describes the critical role of the United Israel Appeal and the Jewish Agency in this effort ommunity organization is difficult to Ethiopian Jews began then, prompted in part Cdefine with precision. Yet there is agree­ by die efforts ofthe recently formed American ment in the Jewish world that the basic work­ Association for Ethiopian Jewry (AAE J). The ing arrangement is a partnership between Chicago-based organization, founded by practitioner and volunteer. Rarely is the Graenam Berger, raised funds and national professional completely on his or her own or awareness of the plight of the Falashas. The authorized to function without significant lay issue soon found its way onto the agenda of participation and oversight (Goldman, 1981). the General Assembly ofthe Council of Jewish Operation Moses was a singular exception Federations (now the United Jewish Commu­ to this rule. nities—^UJC). The leadership of the North The first mass rescue movement of Ethio­ American Jewish community began to take the pian Jews to Israel required a high degree of issue seriously. secrecy. For that reason, the United Israel In Israel, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Appeal (UIA) professionals in the United Yosef ruled that the Ethiopian Jews were States and Israel who helped in the planning descendants of the Tribe of Dan and therefore and execution of this difficult and clandestine entitled to live in Israel under the Law of transfer did so without the usual volunteer Retum. The Prime Minister's office for "se­ involvement. This is our story. cret aliyah activity" began a series of modest- scale rescue missions, which resulted in a BACKGROUND TO small but steady stream of Ethiopian Jews to OPERATION MOSES Israel. The Communist-led dictatorship in power History records that a Jewish Kingdom in Ethiopia at that time was determined to held sway in much of Ethiopia in the 13th stop any leave-takings and dealt harshly with Century. In later years, there were forced anyone caught or suspected of preparing to mass conversions, discrimination against the escape the country. Thus, the need for utmost survivors, and the application of the term secrecy(Gruber, I987;Kessler, I982;Leslau, "Falashas" (strangers) to those Jews remain­ 1951; Parfit, 1985). ing in isolated villages. Several events in the late 1970s dramatically altered the fate of our NEW YORK I (KESSLER) brethren in Africa, culminating in their exo­ dus from Ethiopia to a new beginning in Although UIA was criticized during the Eretz Yisrael. early 1970s for an apparent lack of interest in In America, agitation on behalf of the the fate of Ethiopian Jews, the truth was 98 Operation Moses / 99 different. In Israel for the lewish Agency Committee and State Department personnel. meetings, Melvin Dubinsky, past chairman Eizenstadt was obviously interested in this of UIA, and later Jerold Hoffberger, Chairman argument, so I continued. of the Board of Governors of the Jewish I suggested that President Carter could Agency, and I began regular meetings with the increase the resetdement activity by adding head of the Prime Minister's office that dealt two additional refugee groups: Ethiopian with "secret aliyah activity." There were peri­ Jews and the Iranian Jewish community. odic briefings about rescue attempts that were Eizenstadt quickly agreed, and promised to bringing small numbers of Ethiopian Jews to relay these suggestions. Both recommenda­ Israel. We were warned that open discussion tions were implemented by the Carter admin­ could cause lives to be lost. istration within a few months. The Grant United Nations (UN) Refugee Camps In 1972, the UIA was chosen to administer The situation changed dramatically in expenditures under the U.S. Grant for Rescue 1984, when Ethiopian Jews began arriving at and Resettlement in Israel of refugees from UN-run Refugee Camps on the border with the USSR and other Communist countries, Sudan. Thousands of men, women, and using the Jewish Agency as its operating children walked hundreds of hazardous miles agent. across the desert to get to the camps. The The Grant was administered by the Refu­ facilities offered relative safety for the Jews, gee Affairs Office of the U.S. Department of but at an enormous price—near-starvation, State. During President Carter's administra­ unsanitary conditions, and anti-Jewish don (1976-80), the Office became interested persecudon. in assisting refugees from other parts of the At this time—late in President Reagan's world who were "in search of their human first term—Eugene Douglas, a political ap­ rights." This new and expanded emphasis pointee, directed the U.S. Refugee Affairs gave reason to hope that the Grant and gov­ unit. His deputy director was a former Jewish enunental assistance could be used for Ethio­ communal service worker, Richard (Dick) pian Jews. Krieger. They had a significant interest in In 1979, Akiva Lewinsky, Treasurer of the our concems for the Ethiopians and our de­ Jewish Agency, and I met with Stuart sire to rescue our co-religionists. Eizenstadt, Jewish liaison in the Carter White Many Ethiopian Jews were affected by House, to discuss the Grant and other foreign various illnesses that swept through the camps policy issues that were being reshaped by in summer 1984. In response to our special worldwide events such as the upheaval in representation, the UN Refugee Affairs Unit Iran. (UNRA) dispatched a Swedish medical team During the meeting Eizenstadt was polite, to the camps, and many lives were saved. yet reserved—a very correct public servant. Israeli military persoimel were now—sur­ Lewinsky explained the work of the Jewish reptitiously and with great danger—spiriting Agency inside the Soviet Union and the pro­ small groups of Ethiopian Jews out of the cess of moving migrant families to Israel camps and to Israel. However, this small using a transit stop. He assured Eizenstadt trickle could not begin to relieve the pressures that the Grant was being used appropriately. building in the Sudan camps. The UN High I remarked that it was unfortunate that Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) wamed President Carter did not receive credit for of serious overcrowding and contagious ill­ these resettlement efforts. The Grant did not nesses. It was time to make a move. appear in the President's Budget, and all UIA In the fall of 1984, James Pureed, Director negotiations were handled through House for Refugee Affairs, U.S. Department of State, WINTER 2000 Journal of Jewish Communal Service / 100 made a dramadc request: Would I join a "No problem. The funds will come from small plaiming group meeting in Geneva to UIA," I heard myself answer. discuss the fate of Ethiopian Jews in Sudan? I thought of a recent Board of Governors' I reluctantly demurred due to a health con­ meeting of the Jewish Agency where Max cem. I asked UIA Jerusalem Office Director, Fisher said that there should never be a situ­ Neale Katz, to undertake this critically im­ ation where Jews at risk would not be rescued portant assignment in my stead. due to lack of money. Somehow, I was convinced we would secure the necessary JERUSALEM AND GENEVA (KATZ) funding. The afternoon session was devoted to vari­ In October 1984,1 flew to Geneva, Swit­ ous technical details of the mission. Toward zerland with Yehuda Dominitz. Upon arrival the end of the meeting, we were told that the we met with Princeton Lyman, Director, East entire operation required the highest level of Africa Unit, U.S. Department of State; Rich­ secrecy. In fact, we were instructed not to use ard Krieger; and Jerry Weaver, U.S. State the telephone or telex to contact anyone not Department representative in Khartoum, already party to the rescue mission. Sudan for the past six years (Jerry Weaver's Therefore, in order to discuss the mission key role in described in Kaplan, 1994). and its funding with the appropriate persons Weaver, a former Ohio University football in New York and Zurich. I had to travel by player who received his doctorate in political plane immediately to both cities. On October science from UCLA, made a startling an­ 9th, 1984,1 arrived in New York and briefed nouncement. He had purchased and stored Harold Goldberg, UIA Comptroller. The 500 gallons of gasoline to fuel buses trans­ following day I discussed the mission with porting Ethiopian Jews from the UN refugee Jerold Hoffberger, Chairman of the Board of camps to waiting aircraft, which would fly Govemors of the Jewish Agency, and Irving them to Israel. Kessler. I then flew to Zurich to meet my The plan to rescue and transport Ethio­ colleagues intheU.S. State Department: Gene pian Jews to Israel, later code-named Opera­ Dewey, Deputy Director of the Bureau of tion Moses, was well developed. To become Refugee Programs, and Judy Chavchavadze operational required just an "OK" from the ofthe Bureau Staff overseeing the UIA grant. U.S. State Department, Israeli authorities, and the Intergovernmental Committee on NEW YORK II (KESSLER) Migration, according to Weaver. A second meeting was convened the fol­ Neale reported to me on the several deci­ lowing day. One person was added to the sions of the planning group. The UIA was to group—Efraim HaLevy, the Mossad's "point serve as "paymaster" for an airlift of all "Beta man" for the movement of Ethiopian Jews to Israel" in the UN-run refugee camps in the Israel.
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