Operation Moses (Israel/Ethiopia 1980s)
This was a covert operation to rescue thousands of Black Ethiopian Jews or Falahas from starvation and fly them to Israel. The Israeli base for the operation was thinly disguised as a holiday resort on the Red Sea, by the time it was closed down in January 1986 it had rescued 18,000 Jews, 13,000 directly via the Red Sea operation and 5,000 via an official chartered jet. The operation was highly successful and caused an outrage in the Arab World, it would have rescued more but a press leak forced it to be closed down. For more information on Israeli covert operations see Israeli Covert Operations.
How to cite this article: Dugdale-Pointon, TDP. (1 April 2001), Operation Moses, http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_moses.html