When they were greeted. they smiled broadly and. knowing almost no Hebrew. exclaimed. "Shalom! Shaomi" Some of the children were nursing. while others clung to their stuffed animalstheir only possession in the world. In their faces I could see the same optimism and anticipation that characterizes all immigrants to Israel--the hope and promise of an Individual who has been given the opportunity to start a new life with brothers and sisters in our historic and permanent homeland. Later. at the Knesset. Ud Ulbrani briefed us on the success of Operation Solomon. The operation had been planned for months. but the final details had been worked out only In the last few hours. It involved a massive aldift of the refugees. who had gathered near the Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa. 40 round trips were made by Israel Air Force and El Al planes. with as many as 28 planes in the air at one time. One of the planes set a world record for number of passengers: 1.080 persons seated on the floor of an enormous cargo plane. The massive operation. which rescued more than 14.400 Ethiopian Jews. was over in just 33 hours.
Keywords matched
immigrants refugees