Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen)

Operation Magic Carpet is a widely known nickname for Operation On Wings of Eagles (Hebrew: כנפי נשרים‎‎, Kanfei Nesharim), an operation between June 1949 and September 1950 that brought 49,000 Yemenite Jews to the new state of Israel. During its course, the overwhelming majority of Yemenite Jews – some 47,000 Yemeni, 1,500 Aden as well as 500 Djiboutian and Eritrean Jews and some 2,000 Jews from Saudi Arabia– were airlifted to Israel. British and American transport planes made some 380 flights from Aden, in a secret operation that was not made public until several months after it was over. At some point, the operation was also called Operation Messiah's Coming.

The operation's official name originated from two biblical passages:

The Operation Magic Carpet was the first in a series of operations. Israel sees the rescue operation as a successful rescue of Yemen's community from oppression towards redemption. 49,000 Jews were brought to Israel under the program.

A street in Jerusalem, one in Herzliya, and another in Kerem HaTeimanim, Tel Aviv, were named "Kanfei Nesharim" (Wings of Eagles) in honor of this operation.

In 1948 there were 55,000 Jews living in Yemen , and another 8,000 in the British Colony of Aden.

Following the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Muslim rioters attacked the Jewish community in Aden that killed at least 82 Jews (1947 Aden riots) and destroyed a number of Jewish homes. Early in 1948, accusations of the murder of two Muslim Yemeni girls led to looting of Jewish property.

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