In memory of my beloved friend Oliver.
The true and most accurate story of the Mossads Ethiopian Jewish rescue operation in Sudan.
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PEOPLE
Individuals military ranks correspond to the positions they held at the time of their last activity during the operations to evacuate Ethiopian Jews.
Nahum Admoni Director of the Mossad, 198289.
Colonel Asaf Agmon Israeli Air Force Hercules squadron commander. Flew on secret airlifts of Jews from Sudan and Ethiopia between 1977 and 1991.
Liwa Youssef Hussein Ahmed Commander of the Sudanese Navy in the early 1980s.
Ferede Aklum Ethiopian Jew who, together with Mossad agent Dani, orchestrated the secret migration to Sudan of thousands of Ethiopian Jews who were then smuggled out to Israel, from 1979 onwards.
Yazezow Aklum Ferede Aklums father.
Avrehet Aklum Ferede Aklums mother.
Rear Admiral Zeev Almog Commander in Chief of the Israeli Navy, 197985.
Apke Mossad employee and first manager of the Arous diving resort, December 1981 to March 1982.
Lieutenant Colonel Ami Ayalon Commander of the Shayetet 13, 197981. xii
Colonel Dov Bar Senior officer on board the INS Bat Galim during operation to evacuate Ethiopian Jews from Sudan in March 1982.
Milton Bearden CIA station chief in Khartoum, 198385.
Menachem Begin Israeli prime minister, 197783. Ordered the Mossad to bring the Jews of Ethiopia to Israel.
Lieutenant Colonel Yisrael Ben-Chaim Israeli Air Force Hercules squadron commander. Flew on secret airlifts of Jews from Sudan and piloted flight which evacuated Mossad agents from Arous in April 1985.
Zimna Berhane Israeli of Ethiopian Jewish origin who succeeded Ferede Aklum as go-between for the Mossad and a clandestine Ethiopian Jewish cell in Gedaref, Sudan, from 198081. Served in secret seaborne evacuations of Ethiopian Jews from 198183.
Yona Bogale Ethiopian Jewish leader, activist and educator, from the 1950s to 1970s in Ethiopia, then in Israel, until his death in 1987.
Major Ika Brant Israeli Air Force Hercules squadron commander. Served in Israeli Air Force Operations Department, 198285. Flew on airlifts of Ethiopian Jews from the desert in Sudan.
Major Ilan Buchris Commander of the INS Bat Galim, 1970s80s.
Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni Italian anthropologists and archaeologists. Founded and operated the Arous diving resort from 197477.
Chana Member of the Mossad team and a manageress of the Arous diving resort from late 1983.
Dani Mossad commander and instigator of Operation Brothers. Recruited and led the team of agents who operated the Arous diving resort and carried out secret evacuations of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan by land, sea and air, 197983.
Colonel Natan Dvir Israeli Air Force Hercules squadron commander. Flew on secret airlifts of Jews from Sudan (1980s) and Ethiopia (1991). xiii
Dr Jacques Faitlovich Foremost campaigner for Ethiopian Jews in the first half of the 20th century.
Muammar Gaddafi Libyan leader, 19692011.
Jacques Haggai Member of the Mossad team based at the Arous diving resort involved in operations in March and May 1982.
Chaim Halachmy Representative of organisations responsible for Jewish immigration to Israel. Helped bring out first groups of Jews from Ethiopia in 1977 and 1978, and connected the Mossad to Ferede Aklum.
Efraim Halevy Overall commander of Operation Brothers at Mossad HQ from 1980 onwards. Instigated Operation Moses in 1984 and facilitated Operation Joshua (Sheba) in 1985. Director of the Mossad from 19982002.
Joseph Halvy Professor of Ethiopic at Sorbonne University and first Jewish outsider to make contact with the Jews of Ethiopia (1867).
Major General Yitzhak Haka Hofi Director of the Mossad, 197482.
Dr Baha al-Din Muhammad Idris Sudanese Minister of Presidential Affairs (sacked by Nimeiri in May 1984).
Itai Former Israeli Navy commando who served as a diving instructor at the Arous holiday resort from 1983.
Major General David Ivry Commander in Chief of the Israeli Air Force, 197782. Instigated the use of airlifts as a way to secretly evacuate Ethiopian Jews from Sudan.
David Dave Kimche Head of Mossad division for handling relations with foreign intelligence services. Orchestrated the mission to smuggle Ethiopian Jews to Israel from 197781.
Lieutenant Colonel Gadi Kroll Commander of the Israeli Navy commando unit involved in the seaborne evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan.
Major General Amos Lapidot Commander in Chief of the Israeli Air Force, 198287. xiv
Louis Longest-serving member of the Mossad team based at the Arous diving resort mid-1981, participating in evacuations of Ethiopian Jews.
ZL Swiss-based travel agent who marketed the Arous holiday resort for the Mossad.
Salah Madaneh Head of Sudanese Tourism Corporation in Port Sudan.
Abba Mahari Ethiopian Jewish priest, who is said to have led thousands of followers on an attempted journey from Gondar to Jerusalem in 1862.
Colonel Mohammed Mahgoub Director General of the Sudanese Ministry of Tourism and of the Sudanese Tourism and Hotels Corporation. Leased the Arous holiday village to the European tourism company set up as a front by the Mossad.
Marcel Mossad agent and Danis deputy in Sudan. Joined Operation Brothers in late 1980, participating in evacuations of Ethiopian Jews. Served in the operation until late 1984.
Mengistu Haile Mariam Ethiopian ruler, 197791.
Abu Medina Caretaker at the Arous diving resort.
Mohammed Head of the secret police in Gedaref.
Colonel Avinoam Maimon Israeli Air Force Base 27 commander in the mid-1980s.
Jean-Michel UNHCR representative in Gedaref, 197981.
Jean-Claude Nedjar ORT project manager in Gondar, Ethiopia, 197882.
Jaafar Nimeiri Sudanese president, 196985.
Noam Manager of Neviot (Nuweiba) diving resort in the Sinai. Carried out initial survey of Arous diving resort in May 1981.
Dr Micki Member of the Mossad team based at the Arous diving resort from mid-1982 until late 1984, participating in operations evacuating Ethiopian Jews.
Gil Pas Member of the Mossad team based at the Arous diving resort from May 1982, participating in operations evacuating Ethiopian Jews. xv
Dr Shlomo Pomeranz Deputy head of neurology at Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, and Mossad agent. Joined Operation Brothers in Sudan in late 1980, served until 1983, participating in operations evacuating Ethiopian Jews.
Ramian Businessman in Khartoum who supplied vehicles used by the Mossad team to smuggle Ethiopian Jews.
Rubi Member of the Mossad team based at the Arous diving resort from mid-1981.
Ruth Recruited by the Mossad as head of the ICM office in Khartoum from February 1982.
Uri Sela Mossad agent who joined Operation Brothers in late 1980. Served undercover in Khartoum until April 1985, secretly evacuating Ethiopian Jews through the airport.
Haile Selassie Ethiopian emperor, 193074. Overthrown and murdered by the Derg.
Ariel Sharon Israeli defence minister, August 1981 to February 1983.
Gad Shimron Member of the Mossad team based at the Arous diving resort from December 1981, participating in operations evacuating Ethiopian Jews.
Shmulik Head diving instructor at Neviot (Nuweiba) resort and a member of the Mossad team based at the Arous diving resort from mid-1981, participating in operations evacuating Ethiopia Jews.