Meanness Halts a Mercy Mission

For months thousands of survivors of Ethiopia’s 2,600-year-old Jewish community have been quietly brought to Israel in an operation to rescue them from the famine and war that have savaged their homeland. This effort came to an abrupt halt last weekend, after publicity about the airlift prompted an outcry from such radical Muslim states as Libya and Iran. As a result an estimated 12,000 Ethiopian Jews are for now cut off from hope of salvation. The opportunity to save more lives has been thwarted by the meanest of political pressures.

Both the Marxist government of Ethiopia and the Islamic government of neighboring Sudan had been cooperating in the rescue movement. Each government undoubtedly exacted its price, though both have found it expedient to deny any participation in the airlift that saw the Jews carried by chartered Belgian airliners to Israel from the refuge that they had sought in Sudan. Had there been no disclosure, the flights presumably would have continued until all Ethiopian Jews who wanted to leave had been able to do so.

It was no secret to anyone that premature disclosure of the flights would embarrass Ethiopia and Sudan, which is a member of the Arab League, and jeopardize their cooperation. There is great controversy in Israel now about how and why the rescue effort came to be revealed before its safe conclusion. For Ethiopians recently arrived in Israel the suspension of the airlift is especially heartbreaking. Nearly all have relatives still in Ethiopia or in the refugee camps of Sudan. There is a deep fear among them that their families may never again be reunited.

There are millions of refugees in East Africa. What makes the Ethiopian Jews special? Only that they, unlike the others who have suffered no less, have the chance to become permanent residents in a new land. In an ideal world the gates of many countries would be open to the hungry and dispossessed of Ethiopia. In the real world at least some can find sanctuary. Prime Minister Shimon Peres has promised that Israel will not fail the remaining Ethiopian Jews. Conditions in Ethiopia make a renewed effort urgent. The best thing now would be for the silence that cloaked the initial exodus of the Ethiopian Jews to be restored so that the effort to save those not yet brought out can be quietly resumed. Ethiopia doesn’t want them, Sudan doesn’t welcome them. Let them be allowed to go to the one place where they can find a home.