When Israel Rescued Vietnamese Refugees

The story of the Vietnam Boat People who were rescued in the late 1970s. Learn about the reaction of Israeli officials like Menachem Begin who compared them to Jews fleeing the Holocaust and how the Vietnamese felt arriving to a country they never heard of before.

PM Menachem Begin visits Vietnamese refugees who were absorbed in Afula. Credit: Chanania Herman, Israeli Government Press Office.

Newly arrived refugees being greeted at Ben Gurion Airport by fellow Vietnamese already in Israel, 1979. Credit: Moshe Milner, GPO.

Vietnamese couple with flag and flowers at Ben Gurion airport, 1979. Credit: Moshe Milner, GPO.

Vietnamese arrivals at Ben Gurion Airport, 1979 (Yaa’cov Sa’ar, GPO.

NOTES:

• 35 years on, where are Israel’s Vietnamese refugees? - Times of Israel

• 45 years on, Vietnamese refugees are still writing their story in Israel - JNS News

• Israel and the boat people - Jewish Policy Center

• Vietnamese Refugees Arrive in Israel, 1977 - JTA

• Vietnamese Boat People Arrive in Israel, 1979 - AP News video

• When the People of Ofakim Opened Their Hearts to Vietnamese Refugees - National Library

• Plans Being Developed to Absorb 100 Vietnamese Refugees, 1979 - JTA

• Begin Urges Haven for Vietnamese Refugees, 1979 - JTA

• Cabinet Agrees to Admit-100 Vietnamese Refugees to Israel Also Discusses Problem of the Falashas, 1979 - JTA

• Vietnamese 'boat people' become Israeli - Jerusalem Post