OPERATION SOLOMON In Washington, Secrecy And Cooperation Jewish organizations, the White House and a former U.S. senator helped Operation Solomon take wing. JAMES D. BESSER Washington Correspondent F or weeks, it had been an open secret among Israel's friends in Washington: something was in the works to save Ethio- pia's Jewish population in increased peril as Ethiopia's long civil war neared a violent conclusion. As the government of Mengistu Haile Mariam tot- tered at the edge of collapse and then fell, the sense of expectation was heightened — and yet, the restraint among Jewish activists, reporters and members of Congress held firm until the news of the airlift broke in Washington late Friday. This time, there were no damaging leaks, unlike 1985 when an airlift of Ethiopian Jews was halted after word of the secret mission made it into print. The delicate negotiations that resulted in the agree- Journalistic Ethics And Operation Solomon As the groundwork for last week's dramatic res- cue of Ethiopian Jews was put in place over the past few months, reporters covering the Jewish scene in Washington were faced with a difficult dilemma. Several weeks ago, it became apparent that Israel was in the advanc- ed stages of planning an airlift to rescue thousands of stranded Ethiopian Jews. The time of the proposed operation was not known until last week, but the rough .outlines of the operation became known — along with the fact that American Jewish organ- izations were playing a significant role in the planning process. No reporter revealed the details of what became Operation Solomon. Why this burst of jour- nalistic restraint? "I think we were able to make the case that pre- mature stories about this 26 FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1991 process could jeopardize the entire rescue effort," said William Recant of the American Association for Ethiopian Jews. "It was pretty clear to us that lives would be jeopardized if any of this appeared in the newspapers," said the executive director. Another factor may have been the memory of what happened in 1985, when the Operation Moses rescue had to be closed down after it was publicized in the press, first in Israel and then in the U.S. There were bitter recriminations about whether the blame was with Israeli officials, who spoke to Jewish audiences of the "secret" rescue mission, or with the press. In any event, several reporters — including this one — pieced together the outlines of the Operation Solomon story, but held back because of these con- cerns. ❑ — James D. Besser ment to release the Ethiopi- an Jews mostly involved Israeli and Ethiopian offi- cials. But the process receiv- ed several critical boosts from the White House and its special representative to Ethiopia, former Sen. Rudy Boschwitz. In the end, it was Wash- ington's threat to postpone the peace talks (that began Monday in London) until a resolution of the Ethiopian Jewry situation that broke the long impasse. Last week's airlift was in the works since March, ac- cording to Jewish activists. "The Israelis had been ne- gotiating bilaterally with the Ethiopians at the top levels for the last couple of months," said William Re- cant, director of the Ameri- can Association for Ethiopi- an Jews (AAEJ), a Washing- ton-based group. "And the United States, which has been interested in a peaceful resolution to the conflict and in famine relief in Ethiopia, as well as fami- ly reunification for Ethiopi- an Jews, has made represen- This time, there were no damaging leaks, unlike 1985 when an airlift of Ethiopian Jews was halted after word of the secret mission made it into print. tations on the subject every time they talked to the Ethi- opians." In recent months, as the situation in Ethiopia de- teriorated, the administra- tion followed Israel's lead and picked up the pace of its efforts. A number of Jewish groups also became closely involved in the unfolding drama. Large Israeli planes were filled to twice their normal seating capacity for the three-and-a-half hour flights from Ethiopia to Israel. A working committee was created, which included representatives of a number of Jewish "defense" agencies — the Council of Jewish Federations, several Ethio- pian Jewry groups, the American Joint Distribution Committee, and the Con- ference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. The JDC, which was wide- ly praised for its role both here and in Ethiopia, coor- dinated the overall effort. The Presidents' Conference served to coordinate the po- litical end of the operation in Washington, and in par- ticular to keep the ad- ministration focused on the worsening plight of Ethiopi- a's Jews. According to knowl- edgeable sources, it was Shoshana Cardin, chair of the Presidents' Conference, and Malcolm Hoenlein, the group's executive director, who broached the idea of ap- pointing Mr. Boschwitz as a presidential emissary in several meetings with Na- tional Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. Initially, there was strong resistance within the ad- ministration to the ap- pointment of a personal emissary; there was concern that such an appointment would send an incorrect message to Mengistu or to the rebel leadership. But the idea of Mr. Boschwitz as a personal emissary appealed to the