Date
Thursday, March 5, 2020
7:00 PM
Operation Brothers
The true story behind Netflix’s The Red Sea Diving Resort
Meet the extraordinary men behind one of the most inspiring and riveting stories in modern Israeli history.
The Netflix film The Red Sea Diving Resort is about the heroic Israeli mission to rescue thousands of Ethiopian Jewish refugees fleeing famine and war. The covert plot to bring them to Israel was run by the Mossad and coined Operation Brothers.
At this exclusive By-Invitation-Only event for our Major Gifts donors, UJA is honoured to present two individuals intimately connected to this historic rescue mission: Daniel Limor and Shmuel Yilma. Daniel is the former Mossad agent who led Operation Brothers.
Shmuel is a published author on the Ethiopian Jews’ journey to Israel (having made the trek himself as a child), as well as the nephew of Ferede Aklum, the Mossad’s Ethiopian partner in the rescue.
Come join us for a rare opportunity to hear the real story of one of the most intense humanitarian missions of all time and the inspiration for the movie.
Hosted by Julia and Henry Koschitzky
Address to be given upon RSVP
Cocktails & hors d'oeuvres | Dessert following Q&A | Kashrut observed
Registration for this event is currently on hold. For more information and to get on a waiting list, please contact Eyal Shmueli at eshmueli@ujafed.org or 416.635.2883 x 5103
SPEAKERS
Daniel Limor
Daniel was born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay. At the age of 16, he went to Israel on his own with Youth Aliyah and spent three years studying at a yeshiva. He joined the IDF as an officer in the paratroopers and fought for Israel in four conflicts: Six-Day War, War of Attrition, Yom Kippur War, and the Lebanon War. After serving, he studied Political Science and International Relations at Bar Ilan University.
Daniel spent 25 years in the Mossad. Among other tasks, he was responsible for the Aliyah of Ethiopian Jews through Sudan. He is a founding member and Chairman of the Board of the Nachshon School for Social Leadership. Daniel is presently conducting a project that consists of mapping and researching new and emerging Jewish communities around the world for the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.
Daniel is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Hebrew, Yiddish and Arabic.
Shmuel Yilma
Shmuel Yilma was born in 1968 in Ethiopia in a Jewish agricultural village of approximately 30 families. In March 1980, he left Ethiopia via Sudan with his family, on a journey that was eventually to become “Operation Moses.”
In Israel, having only a meager education and no prior knowledge of Hebrew, Shmuel graduated with full academic matriculation. He earned a BA in Educational Administration and an MA in Educational Counseling.
Serving in the IDF, he joined Israel’s elite paratrooper regiment. He went on to become the second Ethiopian to win officer’s epaulets. In recognition of his exemplary service as Head of Reconnaissance Training, he won the Commander-in-Chief’s Prize, presented to him by Chief of Staff Ehud Barak on Independence Day, 1991.
Today, Shmuel is the Family and Community Division Head for JDC-Israel-Ashalim and is the Founder and Chairman of the Yerusalem Forum for the Renewal of the Israeli/Zionist Narrative.
Shmuel is also a graduate of the prestigious National Leadership Program MAOZ, which strives to build a network of values-driven leaders working together on tangible initiatives to transform the Israeli public sphere.
Shmuel is the author of the autobiography, From Falasha to Freedom – An Ethiopian Jew’s Journey to Jerusalem, published in 1996 by Gefen Books. He is a father of three children, and speaks English, Hebrew, Amharic, and Tigrinya.