page_title: Aliyah from Ethiopia
section_title: Operation Solomon
hierarchical_section_title: Aliyah from Ethiopia / Operation Solomon
caption_attribution_description: English: Women at a rally in Kiryat Mal'achi.עברית: ישראליות-אתיופיות.
context_page_description: Aliyah from Ethiopia is the immigration of the Beta Israel people to Israel. Early forms of Zionism have existed in Ethiopia since the mid 19th-century, as shown in the 1848 letters from the Beta Israel to Jews in Europe praying for the unification of Jews. A year after the first letter was sent, Daniel Ben Hananiah and his son were sent by the Kahen to Jerusalem and made contact with the Jewish leaders there.
context_section_description: At the beginning of 1991, the dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia was about to collapse due to the rebel forces approaching the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. In the end of May 1991, several days before Addis Ababa was seized by the rebels, Mengistu escaped from Ethiopia and found shelter in Zimbabwe. An agreement was obtained between officials from Mengistu's government and Israel allowing the Ethiopian Beta Israel to emigrate to Israel in exchange for about 35 million US dollars and shelter in the United States for several of the officials of the government.
  Due to this agreement, Operation Solomon took place, during which about 14,400 Beta Israel were brought to Israel within 34 hours on 24 May 1991, in about 30 airplanes of the Israeli Air Force and the airline El Al.
caption: Women in Kiryat Malakhi, 2012.
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