In 1946, the Haganah sent the then-twenty-three-year-old Shlomo Hillel undercover to his native Iraq, where he promoted Zionism among local Jews and helped small numbers to sneak out of the country. A year later, Hillel, who died on February 8 at the age of ninety-seven, returned to Mandatory Palestine, but wanted to do more to help his brethren. Clay Risen writes:
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More about: Aliyah, Ethiopian Jews, Haganah, Iraqi Jewry, Israeli history