MOSSAD ASSISTED ETHIOPIAN JEWISH IMMIGRATION

ISRAEL LINE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1997


  Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, helped transport Ethiopian Jews
from Iraq, Iran, Yemen and Ethiopia to Israel from 1974 to 1982, YEDIOT
AHARONOT reported.  (Ret.) Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Hoffi, a former Mossad chief,
revealed the Mossad involvement during a ceremony on Tuesday initiating a
new stamp which honors Ethiopian Jews.
  This marked the first time that the Mossad publicly admitted its
involvement in the Ethiopian immigration.  Hoffi said the operations
entailed great risk to the agents involved and were carried out with Navy
and Air Force support.


ISRAEL LINE