Operation Magic Carpet is a widely known nickname for
Operation On Wings of Eagles (,
Kanfei Nesharim), an operation between June 1949 and September 1950 that brought 49,000
Yemenite Jews to the new state of
Israel. During its course, the overwhelming majority of Yemenite Jews – some 47,000 Yemeni, 1,500 Aden as well as 500
Djiboutian and
Eritrean Jews – were airlifted to Israel.
British and
American transport planes made some 380 flights from
Aden, in a secret operation that was not made public until several months after it was over. At some point, the operation was also called
Operation Messiah's Coming.