1. Shlomo Hillel was an Iraqi-born Israeli diplomat and politician who served as Speaker of the Knesset, Minister of Police, Minister of Internal Affairs, and ambassador to several countries in Africa.
17 Facts About Shlomo Hillel
1. 2.
Shlomo Hillel was secretary of a Hebrew Scouts group that later established Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael.
3.
Shlomo Hillel studied political science, economics and public administration at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
4.
Shlomo Hillel married Temima, with whom he had two children, a son and a daughter.
5.
Shlomo Hillel's daughter Hagar was a pioneer in the research of Jewish journalism in the Arab world.
6.
In 1946, Shlomo Hillel flew to Baghdad on an Iraqi passport and remained there for one year as an operative for the Zionist underground in Iraq.
7.
Shlomo Hillel spearheaded the first large-scale Iraqi aliyah by air, hiring two American pilots and a C-46 to fly 100 Iraqi Jews to Israel in what later became known as Operation Michaelberg.
8.
Shlomo Hillel visited Baghdad again in 1950 to negotiate the mass immigration of the Jews of Iraq, 120,000 of whom were airlifted to Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah between 1950 and 1952.
9.
Shlomo Hillel's partner was Ronnie Barnett, a British Jew who worked for Trans-Ocean Airlines.
10.
Shlomo Hillel was re-elected in 1955, but resigned from the Knesset shortly before the 1959 elections, after which he joined the foreign service, and was appointed ambassador to Guinea in 1959.
11.
Shlomo Hillel returned to Israel in 1967, serving as the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 1969.
12.
In 1969, Shlomo Hillel returned to the Knesset on the Alignment list.
13.
Shlomo Hillel served consecutively from the 1969 elections until the 1992 elections, in which he lost his seat.
14.
Shlomo Hillel was Minister of Police between 1969 and 1977, and Interior Minister in 1974 and 1977.
15.
In 1988, Shlomo Hillel was awarded the Israel Prize, for his special contribution to the society and the State of Israel.
16.
Shlomo Hillel was president of the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites.
17.
In 1984, Shlomo Hillel published Operation Babylon: The Story of the Rescue of the Jews of Iraq, a memoir of the operation, which was later translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Arabic.