In the ear­ly 1980s, on a remote part of the Sudanese coast, a new lux­u­ry resort opened for busi­ness. Cater­ing to divers, it attract­ed guests from around the world. Lit­tle did the guests know that the staff mem­bers were under­cov­er spies, work­ing for the Mossad — the Israeli secret ser­vice. Writ­ten by BBC News web­site Mid­dle East edi­tor Raf­fi Berg, this page-turn­er tells the true sto­ry that inspired the recent Net­flix dra­ma The Red Sea Div­ing Resort.

What began with one cryp­tic mes­sage plead­ing for help, turned into the secret evac­u­a­tion of thou­sands of Ethiopi­an Jews and the spir­it­ing of them to Israel.