This book was the basis for the exciting spy movie Red Sea Diving Resort (2019), which I saw and liked, but haven’t reviewed. The book is also really good, and it supplies even more excitement, sense of constant danger and risk than the movie.
The underlying true story is about a secret Israeli campaign over several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s to help black members of an ancient Jewish community escape from oppression in Ethiopia, and move to Israel as Jews under the Right of Return.
The book focuses more of a spotlight than the movie on the origins of the campaign, the dedicated and daring but often disobedient Mossad team leader on the ground, the means by which the Ethiopians escaped their homes and camps despite the government’s oppressive monitoring of their communities, and many of the close calls and specific incidents that took place during the course of the rescue operations.
Of course, the main focus of the story is still the establishment of a fake diving resort, from which the Ethiopian Jews could be secretly evacuated to boats offshore by Israeli commandos. It’s a thrilling and inspirational true story of dedication, great personal risk, intrigue, daring rescues, and human compassion towards strangers under threat by a brutal regime. Highly recommended.
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