times. Toledano and his men offered to help them to go to Israel. In
a typical operation, within just three hours several families, with
their children and meager possessions in bundles, were ready to
leave; generally they first insisted on going to the cemetery to take
leave of the dead rabbi there, begging forgiveness for abandoning
him. Then they proceeded to the beach and with great trepidation
stepped into small boats that transferred them to the large navy ship
waiting farther offshore. The voyages were often perilous. Some-
times the travelers had to return to the village because the sea was
too rough. They would endure the entire process again when better
conditions prevailed.
After nearly two years of this clandestine operation, approximately
10,000 Jews had successfully been brought to Israel. On 11 January
1961 one of the boats, the Egoz, carrying some 44 Moroccan Jewish
refugees, sank in the high seas between Morocco and Israel. This
tragic occurrence received worldwide publicity concerning the plight
of the Moroccan Jews. Subsequently, Israel asked the governments of
France and the United States, as well as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid
Society (HIAS) based in New York, to exert pressure on Morocco.
After King Hassan was crowned in Morocco in early February
1961 he showed a great interest in getting Western support, and there-
fore he changed his policy on letting the Jews immigrate from Mo-
rocco. As a result of a meeting held in Paris between representatives
of King Hassan, the Jewish Agency, the Mossad, the French govern-
ment, and HAIS, the king allowed the Moroccan Jews to leave Mo-
rocco and go to France. The king appointed his strongman, General
Muhammad Ofkir, to work with France and Israel to accomplish this
mission. The Israeli government agreed to pay $250,000 for each
1,000 “collective passports.” The ships sailed from Casablanca to
France, and from there the Moroccan Jews proceeded to Israel under
the Israeli government responsibility. The tragic sinking of the Egoz
with all aboard thus had the positive effect of accelerating the Jewish
immigration out of Morocco to Israel.
The operation, while still not completely legal, had the tacit ap-
proval of the countries involved and the cooperation of King Hassan.
Mossad agents visited almost every Jewish neighborhood in Morocco,
persuading the Jews to leave Morocco for Israel, but their response
was not as great as it was during the previous clandestine operation.YAKHIN OPERATION • 31306-102 (04) Q-Z.qxd 3/24/06 7:26 AM Page 313