Operation Yachin

Operation Yakhin was an operation led by Israel's Mossad in coordination with the Moroccan state to discretely emigrate Moroccan Jews to Israel between November 1961 and spring 1964. In the arrangement, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), an American organization, paid King Hassan II of Morocco a per capita fee for every Moroccan Jew who migrated to Israel. About 90,000 to 97,000 left for Israel by plane and ship from Casablanca and Tangier via France and Italy.

The accession of Hassan II on 26 February 1961 enabled negotiations to begin on a secret agreement between Mossad's "Misgeret" division and the Moroccan authorities (principally Prince Moulay Ali and labour minister Abdelkader Benjelloun), together with the American organisation HIAS. An economic arrangement was agreed between Israel and Morocco, with the agreement of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and King Hassan II of Morocco, whereby $500,000 would be paid as a downpayment, plus $100 per emigrant for the first 50,000 Moroccan Jews, and then, $250 per emigrant thereafter. The operation also received important help from Francoist Spain. However, some Jews settled in France, Canada and the United States instead of in Israel. Morocco received "indemnities" for the loss of the Jews.

The operation was fronted by the US-based HIAS, which financed approximately 50 million US dollars of costs.

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