The Belete family’s legacy is a path of sacrifice, leading from the desert roads of Sudan to the sands of the Gaza Strip.
By 1984, thousands of the Beta Israel, Ethiopian Jewry, had fled persecution in Ethiopia and braved a month-long desert trek to refugee camps in Sudan. Courageously, they undertook the dangerous journey on foot in the hope of reaching the Jerusalem of which they dreamed, and it is estimated that as many as 4,000 were killed by marauders and smugglers or died from illnesses contracted on the long, hot, desert walk.
Beginning in November 1984, Sudan secretly allowed Israel to evacuate the refugees using Trans European Airways planes (TEA) which normally took Muslims to Mecca, so the semi-covert operation did not garner unwanted attention. Close to 8000 Jews flew TEA to Brussels and on to Israel in a joint effort – of the IDF, CIA, the US Embassy in Khartoum, and US Coordinator for Refugee Affairs, Richard Krieger whose plan it was – called Operation Moses as it resembled the Israelites’ sojourn from Egypt to the Promised Land. The flights ended when Arab countries pressured Sudan to stop.
For the Jews of Ethiopia, a Diaspora cut off from the rest of the Jewish world, the word Jerusalem conjured up images of a transcendental holy city, not an earthbound one, and their longings to reach it were part of the yearly Sigd celebration on the 29th of Heshvan, when they would ascend to the highest spot in their villages and pray longingly, looking in the direction of the city. Fittingly, Jerusalem Liberation Day, the 28th of Iyar, is the day on which the Eida, as they call themselves in Israel, mourns all those who did not survive the trek to Sudan. Today, the Eida also mourns its heroic sons who fell in defense of the country that their elders suffered life-threatening dangers to reach.
Rachamim and Batsheva Belete were young children when they traversed Sudan’s difficult terrain with their families. Rachamim’s father was one of those murdered on the way. Their son, Corporal Neriya Belete Hy”d, Givati Brigade Commando Unit fighter, fell in Gaza on 16 Adar, February 24, 2024. At Nerya’s funeral, Rachamim eulogized his son saying: “I know my father would be happy to see his grandchildren fighting for this land. He would be proud that Neriya, his grandson, gave his life defending the country he yearned for.”
And on Jerusalem Liberation Day 2025. the Belete family dedicated a Sefer Torah in their beloved son’s memory.
