Aryeh Oz’s fascinating life story teaches about the importance of mutual responsibility among the Jewish people – one of Keren Hayesod’s most basic tenets. Oz was a Holocaust survivor, new immigrant, student at a youth village, IDF pilot who received a Certificate of Recognition for his part in Operation Entebbe and an El Al pilot who flew new immigrants to Israel in Operation Solomon. After Kristallnacht in Germany (1938), Oz’s family fled to Holland, which was conquered by the Germans shortly thereafter.
The day before Oz was scheduled to be sent to a concentration camp, a Jewish student connected him with a family that hid him until the end of the war. At age 11, he made aliyah on his own and was sent to a youth village, where he received a home and an education. “What I got there guided me on my life’s path”, he attests. “I was accepted into a course for pilots and I was happy to be able to give back to the entity that made it possible for me to be here”.
Oz commanded a squadron in the Air Force, dropped paratroopers at the Mitla Pass during the Sinai Campaign (1956) and flew one of the planes in Operation Entebbe (1974). He later became an El Al pilot and was one of the key pilots in Operation Solomon, which brought Ethiopian Jews to Israel. At a dramatic moment during the operation, when there were no seats left on the plane, but people still remained on the ground, Oz courageously authorized bringing more olim onto the plane. In the end, there were 1,000 passengers, breaking a Guinness record. Oz said of this moving flight that he was closing the circle: from a rescued child to a pilot rescuing others. “When we passed over Jerusalem and I made a left turn toward the airport, the entire plane sang Jerusalem of Gold. There wasn’t a single person who didn’t have tears in his eyes”.
Photo: Aryeh Oz, from the KH annual film, 2017