quick exit from a Soviet Union in the throes of cataclysmic change , fearful that the change might be in the direction of renewed chauvinism and antisemitism .
Awestruck , I watched up-close as Israel never faltered , not even for a moment , in transporting Soviet Jews to the Jewish homeland , even as Scud missiles launched from Iraq traumatized the nation in 1991 . It says a lot about the conditions they were leaving behind that these Jews continued to board planes for Tel Aviv while missiles were exploding in Israeli population centers . In fact , on two occasions I sat in sealed rooms with Soviet Jewish families who had just arrived in Israel during these missile attacks . Not once did any of them question their decision to establish new lives in the Jewish state . And equally , it says a lot about Israel that , amid all the pressing security concerns , it managed to continue welcoming these new immigrants without missing a beat .
I traveled to the Gondar region of Ethiopia in the 1980s and met Jews who had waited centuries , perhaps millennia , to return to Zion , never losing their faith or hope . And return they did in extraordinary operations organized by Israel . As one African-American leader said then : “ This was the first time that Africans were taken from the continent not in chains for slavery , but on planes for freedom .”
And how can I ever forget the surge of pride — Jewish pride — that completely enveloped me in July 1976 , on hearing the astonishing news of Israel ’ s daring rescue of the 106 Jewish hostages held by Arab and German terrorists in Entebbe , Uganda , over 2,000 miles from Israel ’ s borders ? The unmistakable message : Jews in danger will never again be alone , without hope , and totally dependent on others for their safety .
Not least , I can still remember , as if it were yesterday , my very first visit to Israel . It was in 1970 , and I was not quite 21 years old .
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