Operation Moses (Hebrew: מִבְצָע מֹשֶׁה, Mivtza Moshe) was the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews (known as the "Beta Israel" community or the derogatory "Falashas")[1] from Sudan during a civil war that caused a famine in 1984.
Originally called Gur Aryeh Yehuda ("Cub of the Lion of Judah") by Israelis, the United Jewish Appeal changed the name to "Operation Moses".
After receiving accounts of the persecution of Ethiopian Jews in the refugee camps, Krieger came up with the idea of an airlift and met with Mossad and Sudanese representatives to facilitate the Operation.
[6] Beginning November 21, 1984, it involved the air transport by Trans European Airways of some 8,000 Ethiopian Jews from Sudan via Brussels to Israel, ending January 5, 1985.
[7] Trans European Airways had flown out of Sudan previously with Muslims making the pilgrimage to Mecca, so using TEA was a logical solution for this semi-covert operation because it would not provoke questions from the airport authorities.
[19] On November 16, 2015, the Israeli cabinet unanimously voted in favor of allowing the last group of Falash Mura to immigrate over the next five years, but their acceptance would be conditional on a successful Jewish conversion process, according to the Interior Ministry.
[27] In the book World War Z by Max Brooks, the evacuation of African Jews to Israel in response to the outbreak of the titular epidemic is referred to as Operation Moses II.