← Back to lessons
Operation Solomon (Mivtza Shlomo) was the May 24-25, 1991 airlift evacuating 14,325 Beta Israel from Addis Ababa to Israel in just 36 hours. Coordinated by Israel as the Mengistu regime collapsed in the Ethiopian civil war, it ran as a single continuous shuttle: 35 El Al and Israeli Air Force flights packing planes far beyond rated capacity (Guinness record: ~1,200 on one Boeing 747, with 2 babies born mid-flight). The operation cost roughly $35M and remains the largest single-day mass migration in modern history. Smaller follow-up operations continued 1992-2003.
Cultural note, Operation Solomon is the peak of Israeli rescue mythology: civil war chaos closing in on Addis Ababa, planes packed with families standing room only, babies born in flight. PM Yitzhak Shamir authorized the mission; coordination ran through Sokhnut director Uri Lubrani. The Ethiopian government accepted a $35M payment as the regime fell. Photos of Beta Israel arriving at Ben Gurion barefoot, kissing the tarmac, became iconic. Many of those olim now have grandchildren born in Israel, full third-generation Israeli citizens.
Operation Basics
Historical Context
Logistics & Records
Key Figures
Aftermath & Generations
Inside the 36-Hour Airlift
An Ethiopian-Israeli describes Operation Solomon as a 9-year-old.