Operation Solomon

The arrival of Ethiopian Jews in Israel on May 24, 1991

Operation Solomon ( Hebrew מבצע שלמה ) - Israeli military operation to export Ethiopian Jews to Israel .

By 1991, the Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam was close to falling due to the successes of Eritrean rebels and rebels in the province of Tigre. Israel and Jewish organizations were concerned about the situation with Ethiopian Jews, and they organized an operation during which 14,325 people were transported in 36 hours ^[1] .

As a result of Operation Solomon, twice as many Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel over the course of Operation Moses and Yehoshua combined. During this operation, a world record was set for the number of passengers transported in one flight by one aircraft - on May 24, 1991, El Al's Boeing-747 transported 1,122 people to Israel (1,087 passengers were registered, but dozens more children were hidden in their mothers clothes ) ^[2] . According to the plan, 760 people were supposed to be loaded onto the plane, but since the passengers were so light, their number was significantly increased ^[3] . Two babies were born during the flight ^[1] . Actually, this type of aircraft is designed to fly with 480 passengers on board.

In total, 24 transport aircraft of the Israeli Air Force C-130 type and 10 El Al passenger aircraft were involved. Aircraft made a total of 41 flights, cars landed and took off with a frequency of up to three every half an hour, and flew to Israel without refueling in Ethiopia. About 1,500 Ethiopian Jews were unable to break out of the blocked province of Gondar to the capital and remained in Ethiopia.