The day of remembrance for Ethiopian Jews who perished in Sudan on their way to Israel was commemorated on Jerusalem Day on the 28th of Iyar.
This day is marked in remembrance of approximately 4,000 members of the community who perished on their journey, in anticipation of making Aliyah, and in refugee camps in the Sudan.

Between the years 1980-1984, a mass exodus of Ethiopian Jews (the Beta Israel community) began from the villages in the Gondar area of Tigray and Simian district in northern Ethiopia towards the Sudan. Many Ethiopian Jews dreamed of immigrating to Israel for thousands of years. The aliyah through the Sudan was made possible due to a silent agreement made between the Sudanese and Israeli governments whose details were known only to a few senior officials in the Sudan and Israel.

Ethiopian Jews crossed the Ethiopian-Sudanese border in a treacherous journey that took months and involved waiting in temporary refugee camps in the Sudan for around two years until their immigration in to Israel.

In these camps, Mossad personnel and army soldiers waited, and in a number of operations by sea and air, they assisted the aliyah.

Representatives of the Mossad and the military who assisted in organizing the covert operations ordered Ethiopian Jews to hide their Jewish identity, making it difficult to keep kosher and perform other customs. In the desert, Ethiopian Jews could not bury their dead and conduct Jewish burial ceremonies for fear of robbers. In the camps they feared their Jewish identity would be discovered by Sudanese guards.

In November 1984, "Operation Moshe" began; the first state operation to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. The operation was conducted in secret, and as part of it around 8,000 Ethiopian Jews were brought to Israel on Israeli planes. Due to a leak of information about its execution to the press in Israel, this operation ended prematurely and many families were left behind, torn and divided until "Operation Solomon," in May 1991 in which 14,324 immigrants were brought to Israel by air all within 36 short hours.

This year, the Memorial Day for Ethiopian Jews who lost their lives in the Sudan was marked at the college, by an online lecture given by Rabbi Sharon Shalom, who shared the story of his aliyah.

Memorial Day for Ethiopian Jews at the Knesset website

* The text is provided by a student at Hadassah Academic College.