Operation Joshua

Operation Joshua was the 1985 removal of 800 Ethiopian Jews (called Beta Israel) from Sudan to Israel.

George H. W. Bush, Vice-President of the United States at the time, arranged a CIA-sponsored follow-up mission to Operation Moses, which had brought 8000 people to Israel. Under Operation Joshua, an additional 800 were flown out of Sudan to Israel. But in the following five years, a virtual stalemate occurred in the emigration of Ethiopian Jewry. All efforts on behalf of the Beta Israel fell on the closed ears of Mengistu Haile Mariam's dictatorship. The transfer only resumed in 1991 in Operation Solomon after Mengistu lost control.

Meanwhile, those Jews who did escape during Operation Moses were separated from their loved ones while attempting to adjust to Israeli society. The new arrivals spent between six months and two years in absorption centers learning Hebrew, being retrained for Israel's industrial society, and learning how to live in a modern society (most Ethiopian villages had no running water or electricity). Suicide, all but unheard of in their tukuls in Ethiopia, even claimed a few of the new arrivals due to the anxiety of separation and departure.

Over 1,600 "orphans of circumstance" lived day to day separated from their families, not knowing the fate of their parents, brothers, sisters, and loved ones.

See also

• Operation Moses
• Operation Solomon
• Gathering of Israel

References

• http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html#operation1