In 1961, about 500 Jewish Cubans secretly left their island and flew to Israel on three planes to start new lives in the Jewish homeland. Once the Jews disembarked, the planes were serviced, cleaned and loaded with dozens of sheep – a gift from the Kibbutz Movement to the government of Cuba – then turned around and headed back to Havana.

The operation, kept secret for years, was a deal cooked up between Cuba’s new revolutionary ruler Fidel Castro and the Jewish Agency, and reflects an underlying theme in Cuban-Israeli relations since Castro’s rise to power: no real reason for the direct enmity which exists nonetheless, and which is expressed openly, because of each country’s relations with the US. Continue reading →