Save All Ethiopian Jews.

Save All Ethiopian Jews (SAEJ) was established in Mercer Island, Washington, in 1983 to assist in the immigration and resettlement of Jews from Ethiopia to Israel. The organization was the idea of Sidney Weiner, a former Boeing engineer, and his nephew-in-law Eli Halpern, an attorney in Olympia, Washington. Additional founding members included Margaret Weiner (Sidney Weiner's wife), Sol Goldberg, and Samantha Ripley. When SAEJ was founded, Jews in Ethiopia faced discrimination, poverty, and religious oppression. In 1985 the Israeli government airlifted 9,500 Ethiopian Jewish refugees from Sudan in a rescue dubbed Operation Moses, but the operation was suspended after news of the evacuation broke in the media, and Israel did not actively pursue further evacuations of Ethiopian Jews until the large-scale Operation Solomon airlift of 1991. Along with several other North American organizations, such as the American Association for Ethiopian Jews (AAEJ), the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ), and the Canadian Association for Ethiopian Jews (CAEJ), SAEJ worked in quiet cooperation with Israeli officials through the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) to repatriate Ethiopian Jews. From 1985 to 1990, their strategies enabled Ethiopian Jews to receive passports and travel to the U.S., whereupon they were flown to Israel. In 1992, following Operation Solomon, SAEJ members dissolved the organization. Remaining funds were used to establish the SAEJ/Bill Halpern Ethiopian Scholarship Endowment Fund, which awards college grants to Ethiopian youths resettled in Israel.

From the description of Save All Ethiopian Jews records, 1979-2005 (bulk 1983-1990). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 77521477

...