Before Operation Moses, around 4,000 Ethiopian Jews died due to illness and violence, while attempting to reach refugee camps in Sudan, a journey that was undertaken by foot and took up to a month.
Opertion Moses, the evacuation of Ethopian Jews from Sudan in 1984, was lead by the Israeli Defence Forces, and aided by the CIA, the Sudanese security forces, their secret police, local mercenaries and Sudanese Muslims. The operation, which was named after the biblical figure, lasted for seven weeks. More than 200,000 Ethiopian Jews were brought to Israel.
Due to pressure from other Arab countries, Sudan was forced to stop the airlift, and many Jews were left behind. Seven years later, in Operaton Solomon, 14,000 more Ethiopians were brought to Israel.
Seven weeks in 1984 was created using archival, lightfast acrylic ink, and 24 karat gold leaf, on museum quality, cradled wooden panel.
