Start date November 1961 | ||
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Operation Yakhin was an operation to secretly emigrate Moroccan Jews to Israel, conducted by Israel's Mossad between November 1961 and spring 1964. About 97,000 left for Israel by plane and ship from Casablanca and Tangier via France and Italy.
Contents
The accession of Hassan II on 26 February 1961 enabled negotiations to begin on a secret agreement between Mossad's "Misgeret" division and the Moroccan authorities (principally Prince Moulay Ali and labour minister Abdelkader Benjelloun), together with the American organisation HIAS. An economic arrangement was agreed between Israel and Morocco, with the agreement of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and King Hassan II of Morocco, whereby $500,000 would be paid as a downpayment, plus $100 per emigrant for the first 50,000 Moroccan Jews, and then, $250 per emigrant thereafter. The operation also received important help from Francoist Spain. However, some Jews settled in France, Canada and the United States instead of in Israel. Morocco received "indemnities" for the loss of the Jews.
The operation was fronted by the New York-based Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, who financed approximately $50 million of costs.
Etymology
The operation's name Yachin was of Biblical origin- being the name of one of the two central pillars that supported the Holy Temple built in Jerusalem by King Solomon, and since Israel regarded immigration as a major pillar that supported the existence of the Jewish state.
Background
The Jewish community of Morocco spans nearly 2,000 years. It became an important Jewish center with the expulsion of Jews from Spain and later Portugal, and continued to be such until the founding of Israel in 1948. Despite singular events of violence, such as the 1948 Anti-Jewish Riots in Oujda and Jerada, the Moroccan Jews were perhaps the most protected Jewish community across the Arab World. Many hesitated to trade their comfortable lives and good businesses for an uncertain future across the seas, with only Israel and France being willing to accept them.
The migration swelled by the early 1950s, until an official ban was issued by the French colonial government. Nevertheless, an illegal immigration continued. Morocco obtained independence from France in 1956.
On 10 January 1961 a small boat called Egoz carrying 44 Jewish emigrants sank on the northern coast of Morocco. This created a crisis both within the Moroccan authorities and for the Zionist institutions responsible for the illegal immigration activities.
Notable people
Ya'akov Margi was brought to Israel during Operation Yachin in 1962.