‘The Red Sea Diving Resort’ Netflix movie tells the story of the sham Mossad resort in Sudan
A ‘sham’ diving resort set up in the Red Sea by Israel’s secret service in the 1980s later became a temporary headquarters for Osama bin Laden, it can be revealed.
The extraordinary link between Mossad and the world’s most famous terrorist emerged after a Netflix blockbuster, starring Ben Kingsley, told the first part of the story.
Mossad ran the isolated ‘holiday camp’ as a front to help smuggle Ethiopian Jews out of eastern Africa, with secret agents posing as receptionists and diving instructors to spirit people across the Ethiopian border to Sudan.
The daring operation, which saved at least 7,000 Jews over five years, inspired the film ‘The Red Sea Resort’ which was screened last year.
Now a book by the BBC’s Raffi Berg reveals how Al Qaeda chief bin Laden hid out there for two weeks in 1991 – after the Israelis did a midnight flit in 1985.
The terrorist spent several years living in Sudan, growing his businesses and masterminding his global terrorist network.
The fake Red Sea resort with 15 idyllic villas (pictured in 2005) – holding 60 holidaymakers – sprang up in 1981 in Arous, Sudan, on the orders of Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin
A brochure of the resort printed by Mossad shows all the activities on offer at the Red Sea holiday village as it became popular with wealthy foreign tourists in the early 1980s
Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin wanted the resort set up by a network of spirs to get Jews out of Ethiopia in the grip of a civil war that had claimed the lives of 1.4 million people
By day, secret Mossad agents like the one pictured posed as diving instructors and resort staff waiting on guests, but by night they drove trucks in Sudan to rescue stricken Jews
The Nextflix blockbuster starring Ben Kingsley and Captain America star Chris Evans (above) brings to life the incredible operation over five years to repatriate 7,000 Jews to Israel
Speaking to MailOnline Berg said: ‘After the Israelis had long gone, a member of a wealthy family in Khartoum, who invested in the resort confirmed that Bin Laden had stayed there.
‘At the time he had been kicked out of Saudi Arabia for criticising the government over its links to the US and he needed refuge.
Bizarrely, five years after the Mossad left, Osama bin Laden made it his temporary HQ
‘Sudan, being so hard up, welcomed the wealthy young Bin Laden with open arms without having any idea of his terrorist intentions.
‘No one knows what he got up to in the resort, but it’s an isolated site so he would have gone unnoticed.
‘The fact he moved in to a secret based once used by Mossad only adds to the intrigue.’
The Netflix film tells how the mysterious holiday village sprang up in Arous in 1981.
With 15 idyllic villas offering exquisite ocean views and a team of dive instructors, it looked like any other exclusive Red Sea holiday camp.
But the staff were really Mossad agents sent in on the orders of Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin to get Jews out of Ethiopia, which was in the grip of a civil war that had claimed the lives of 1.4million people.
Tens of thousands of refugees fled to neighbouring Sudan, where they languished in squalid camps and slums.
Guests (pictured there during the early 1980s) were completely oblivious to the fact that they were in fact being waited on by Israeli spies
Holidaymakers pose at the height of the operation in front of the red sea with their ‘diving instructors (far right) who were really secret service intelligence operatives
Mossad agents enjoy breakfast at the sham village, which grew in popularity at the time and hosted a unit of Egyptian soldiers, British SAS men and a number of dignitaries and diplomats
A Mossad agent stands in front of a bedroom with the number ’13’ and a trident symbol on the door – which are both cryptic allusions to the Israeli naval commando unit
Among them were members of a mysterious Jewish sect called Beta Israel, which had long ago become isolated from the mainstream Jewish world.
When the Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin, heard of their plight, he ordered his spies to evacuate as many as possible.
At the time, Sudan was an enemy of the Jewish state, meaning agents had to work undercover.
The Arous holiday village operated as a real dive resort for years to hide its secret mission
Led by an operative known as Dani, played in the Netflix film by Captain America actor Chris Evans, they employed local cleaning and restaurant staff but the secret agents ran the resort themselves, posing as diving instructors and receptionists.
By day the Mossad agents taught holidaymakers to dive. By night they drove to refugee camps in Sudan and picked up Beta Jews and transported them to the coast under cover of darkness, avoiding roadblocks.
From there they were loaded onto dinghies waiting in the Red Sea and taken to Israeli ship the INS Bat Galim which was anchored offshore – and sailed to Israel.
Never before seen photos show the agents at work at the resort, posing with guests and teaching them diving as a cover for the audacious assignment.
A Toyota pick up truck with diving gear in the back gives the impression of a real dive school
Ethiopian refugees were rescued from camps in Sudan and loaded onto dinghies (above)
A Mossad agent poses in front of a jeep full of Ethiopian refugees taken from Sudanese camps
The Israeli ship INS Bat Galim (pictured) was anchored offshore from the Arous resort was filled with refugees who were then sailed home to the Jewish state
The team was led by an operative known as Dani seen in this picture (left) with Tourism Corporation director Mohammed Mahgoub, who leased the village to them
Dani, played in the Netflix film by Captain America actor Chris Evans, larks about at the holiday resort at Christmas 1982 during their secret mission
An Israeli navy seal takes an Ethiopian Jewish boy smuggled out by Mossad agents at Arous
Over the years, the fake resort grew in popularity. Holidaymakers included a unit of Egyptian soldiers, some British SAS men and a number of dignitaries and diplomats.
None had any idea that they were being waited on by undercover Israeli operatives.
The rescue operation was a huge success as the Mossad smuggled 7,054 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
In 1985, a coup in Sudan made the Israeli agents fear getting caught and they quickly abandoned the Arous facility.
Ethiopian Jews who had fled the country’s civil war and crossed the border into Sudan were picked up by Mossad agents in trucks and put on dinghies in the Red Sea. From there they were taken to INS Bat Galim which was anchored offshore – and sailed to Israel
The spies vanished during the night, leaving bewildered holidaymakers and staff to wonder where they had gone the next morning.
Six years after the Israelis left, bin Laden moved into the resort having been expelled from Saudi Arabia for his views of the government’s relationship with the US.
Back then, the 9/11 mastermind’s burgeoning terror credentials were not fully known as Sudan, Africa’s poorest country, welcomed the wealthy young man worth £200million to invest in its struggling economy.
The extraordinary story of how Ethiopian Jews were rescued over five years has been brought to life by the Netflix blockbuster starring Evans, Haley Bennett and Michiel Huisman (above)
Actor Ben Kingsley also appears in the gripping drama, although the new detail about bin Laden’s two-week stay at the camp has only recently come to light in a new book by Raffi Berg
Bin Laden’s presence in the country was of immense financial benefit to Sudan.
He founded several construction and farming businesses but at the same time he built his Al Qaeda terror network and issued fatwas against the US.
After his stay at Arous, the terrorist leader bought a house in Khartoum and a farm in Soba, on the banks of the Blue Nile, where he stayed with his four wives, horses and many children.