Operation Yachin

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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.

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.[1][2] The operation also received important help from Francoist Spain.[3] However, some Jews settled in France, Canada and the United States instead of in Israel. Morocco received "indemnities" for the loss of the Jews.[4]

The operation was fronted by the New York-based Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, who financed approximately $50 million of costs.[5]

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.[6]

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.[7] 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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Frederic ABECASSIS, QUESTIONS ABOUT JEWISH MIGRATIONS FROM MOROCCO "OPERATION MURAL" (SUMMER 1961): RETURN FROM DIASPORA OR FORMATION OF A NEW DIASPORA? "Since 1960, indirect talks had been initiated between the Israeli authorities and the heir to the throne, and even with the leftist leader, Mehdi Ben Barka (Bin-Nun, 2008). According to Yigal Bin Nun (2009), the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was progressively convinced to consider financial compensation to the departure of the Jews, as it had been done in Iraq and Romania. In early May 1961, Isser Harel, the Director of the Mossad, decided to entrust to Alex Gatmon, chief of the Misgeret in Morocco, the mission to contact Jewish intermediaries to start negotiations with the Moroccan authorities. By the end of July, with the collaboration of Sam Benazeraf and Dr Isaac Cohen Olivar, he was negotiating with Abdelkader Benjelloun (Minister of Labour) and Moulay Ali Alaoui (the King’s cousin and brother-in-law) and came to a compromise agreement. An economic clause was planned: half a million dollars would be paid as a down payment for the emigration of 50,000 Moroccan Jews to Europe, and then, 100$ per capita (250$ after the 50,000th). A humanitarian association, The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) would be the façade for the Israeli emissaries. The Moroccan authorities demanded that the Jews leave Morocco as entire families and not as single and selected migrants, as was the case since 1953. Furthermore, Alex Gatmon refused to dissolve his network “Misgeret” in Morocco, and clandestine emigration kept on until the end of the negotiations. Raphaël Spanien, the HIAS representative in Morocco, negotiated with colonel Oufkir collective passports issue by the Ministry of Interior. By the end of November 1961, Operation Yakhin had begun. From then till 1964, 97,005 Jews left Morocco with the tacit agreement of the Moroccan authorities."
  2. ↑ In Ishmael's House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands, Martin Gilbert, p279
  3. ↑ "In the shadow of the Holocaust and the Inquisition: Israel's relations with Francoist Spain", by Raanan Rein, p.197.
  4. ↑ "The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in modern times", by Reeva S. Simon, Michael M. Laskier, Sara Reguer, p.502.
  5. ↑ Szulc 1991, p. 210:"Under the 1961 arrangement between HIAS and the Jewish Agency, over 100,000 Moroccan Jews, including entire villages in the Atlas Mountains, were directly helped by the Americans in emigrating to Israel; thousands more were later indirectly assisted by HIAS in leaving the country. The cost to HIAS, which relied on contributions from American Jewry, was close to $50 million.”
  6. ↑ Every spy a prince: the complete history of Israel's intelligence community, by Daniel Raviv, Yossi Melman, p.111.
  7. ↑ "King Hassan II: Morocco's messenger of peace", by Megan Melissa Cross, pp.66-67.

Further reading

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