Jewish History Moment - Moroccan Jewish Aliyah - Egoz ship

The Jewish community of Morocco faced many obstacles in making aliyah. The majority came to Israel in 1954 and 1955 from transit camps set up in Casablanca. Following Morocco’s independence in 1956, the government made immigrating illegal and the Jewish community had to leave secretly. In 1961 the ship Egoz was caught in a storm and sunk, drowning all the passengers. The incident made the plight of the Moroccan Jewish community front page news resulting in the release of the majority of the community. The last of the victims of the Egoz sinking were finally recovered and buried in 1992. Today the Jewish community of Morocco is the largest group from the Middle East and North Africa. For more information visit http://www.israelnationalradio.com.