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ZIONIST HISTORY.'_
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't' ,7;
'' Elli Shashua
y the rivers of Babylon,
Later that day, pilots Mike and Leo
there we sat and wept responsible for the illegal immigration Vessenberg and Shlomo Hillel, dressed
of Jews to Israel during the British
as we remembered Mandate, sent representatives to Iraq as a mechanic, flew to Baghdad in a
B Zion" {Tehillim q7:l). to come up with a creative plan. Curtiss Commando plane, landing in
This verse of longing for Israel has Shlomo Hillel, a Mossad le'Aliya Bet rep a semi-isolated airport without arous
been recited by Jews throughout the resentative and native-born Baghdadi, ing the suspicion of any Iraqi officials.
millennia, perhaps most poignantly joined the effort. Hillel traveled to Hillel immediately went to the Shasha
by the Jews of Babylon themselves, Baghdad in 1942, hoping to help Iraqi family home in the Al'oliya neighbor
,· in modern day Iraq. But when Iraqi Jews emigrate to Israel, but returned hood of Baghdad, where Mossad Le'Aliya
Jews recited this verse on Tisha B'Av to Israel after a year of fruitless efforts. Bet members were waiting for him.
in 1947, they could not have imagined Five years later, on the 3rd of Ellul, Despite the dangers involved, everyone
that many of them would be in Israel 1947, Hillel was at his Kibbutz, Ma'agan agreed that the best chance for success
by Rosh Hashanah of that year! Michael, when the director of Mossad ful escape would be to leave from the
It all began in June 1941, when the Iraqi le'Aliya Bet, Moshe Karmil, came look airport. The challenge, of course, was
how to smuggle 50 Jews onto the plane
Arabs attacked the Jewish community ing for him. A rescue plan was coming without being noticed.
of Baghdad in what would later be together and Karmil wanted Hillel
known as the "Farhud", the "looting". to lead the operation. Two American Hillel, disguised as Abu Yusuf, spent the
Hundreds of Arabs attacked Jewish World War II veteran pilots were in next two days making preparations.
homes and businesses, murdering 179 Israel with a commando plane which The empty plane would taxi along the
Jews and injuring thousands more. had a capacity of 50 passengers. Though tarmac, and while at a turning point, it
Recognizing that Jewish life in Iraq not Jewish nor Zionists, the mercenary would stop for a few minutes to allow
was no longer safe, the local Zionist pilots were willing to fly to Iraq to the engines to warm up. While stopped,
movement began searching for a plan bring a plane full of Jews to Israel in the passengers would secretly board
to bring Iraqi Jews to Eretz Yisrael. return for payment. Hillel immediately under the protection of the plane's
accepted the challenge, excited about blinding lights. With a plan in place, the
At this time, the British ruled over the opportunity to bring 50 Jews to the Mossad Le'Aliya Bet representatives gath
Mandatory Palestine and had enacted Holy Land. Although only 24 years old, ered 50 young Jewish men and women
a quota system, limiting the number Hillel knew Baghdad like the back of from across Iraq. The Shura - the
of Jews who could emigrate to Pales his hand and was the perfect fit to lead operational arm of the underground
tine. The Mossad le'Aliya Bet, the agency the mission. - was responsible for organizing the
56 I HANjlZRACHI t
