The aliyah of the Falasha (Beta Israel) and Operations Moses and Solomon

The Beta Israel, the Jewish community of Ethiopia long called Falashas (a term now considered pejorative), practiced a Judaism founded on the Bible and its own traditions, which had largely remained apart from rabbinical evolution. Recognized as fully Jewish by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate in the 1970s, they were the subject of spectacular transfer operations when civil war, famine, and instability threatened their existence. Operation Moses, conducted clandestinely in 1984–1985 via Sudan, enabled the evacuation of several thousand people, at the cost of dramatic conditions and numerous deaths along the way. Operation Solomon, in May 1991, transferred approximately 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel by a massive airlift in less than two days. The integration of this community in Israel, marked by socio-economic difficulties, controversies (notably over conversion requirements and medical treatment), and demonstrations against discrimination, as well as by a strong assertion of identity, constitutes an important chapter in the history of Israeli immigration.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Jewish Virtual Library ↗