Click Here: Today in History: IDF Airlifts 14,500 Ethiopian Jews to Israel
“Next year in Jerusalem” are words spoken by Jews all over the world. For the Jews of Ethiopia, this dream was a promise.
On May 24, 1991, the IDF carried out Operation Solomon, a massive airlift that brought Ethiopian Jews to Israel. After 34 planes and 36 hours, the Israeli Air Force safely carried 14,500 Jews to Israeli soil. The mission remains the largest aerial expedition in Israel’s history.
In the 1970s, the Israeli government took the bold step of utilizing the IDF to facilitate the immigration of numerous Jews residing in Ethiopia, a nation that prohibited its citizens from emigrating to Israel at the time. From 1984 onwards, the IDF orchestrated three airlift operations to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel, culminating in the remarkable Operation Solomon in 1991.
The sentiment expressed by Maj. Gen. Avihu Ben-Nun, then serving as Israel’s air force commander, encapsulated the essence of Zionism embodied by Operation Solomon. According to him, the operation epitomized the core purpose of the State of Israel: to offer a haven for Jews globally who have faced adversity and persecution simply due to their Jewish identity.
The magnitude and impact of Operation Solomon were remarkable on a global scale, as stated by Maj. Gen. Ben-Nun, who marveled at the unprecedented feat of a limited number of pilots airlifting an immense population within an extraordinarily brief timeframe.
At the time of Operation Solomon, Ethiopia was grappling with significant political unrest in 1991, with a fragile government facing the looming threat of falling to Eritrean rebels. Recognizing the imminent danger faced by Ethiopia’s Jewish community, Israeli diplomat Uri Lubrani urgently advocated for an emergency plan to protect and evacuate them.
In preparation for the operation, an impressive $35 million was swiftly raised to secure the evacuation of Ethiopian Jews by negotiating with the Ethiopian government.
The meticulously planned operation involved the deployment of six Boeing 707 and 18 Hercules aircraft capable of accommodating 18,000 individuals. The logistical endeavor comprised two key stages: an initial three-hour flight to Addis Ababa utilizing the Boeing 707, followed by a subsequent five-hour journey to Israel aboard the Hercules planes. Notably, the modern C-130J-30 Super Hercules, a variant of the Hercules aircraft, continues to feature in present-day IDF missions.
The seamless execution of Operation Solomon was exemplified by the organized landing of the aircraft in Addis Ababa, despite the turbulent circumstances. The meticulous ground plan involved routing all evacuees to the Israeli embassy and facilitating their transit to the planes via designated buses, each escorted by an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian descent. To maximize the evacuation capacity, the planes were modified to remove seats, enabling up to 1,200 passengers to be accommodated on a single flight.
