Israel's 'Secret Deal' with Fidel Castro

A month after the death of Fidel Castro, the revolutionary leader of Cuba, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on a 'secret deal' between Cuba and Israel in past decades. According to Haaretz, the secret deal, agreed upon by Fidel Castro and the Israeli leaders of the time, was for 'Jews in exchange for goats.' This deal took place in the early 1960s, shortly after the revolutionary government of Cuba, led by Fidel Castro, came to power. Haaretz wrote that Fidel Castro, as a socialist leader, was very interested in Israeli modern agriculture and animal husbandry. Castro was 'in love with the goats raised in Israel' to the extent that he was willing to trade Israeli goats for the release of Cuban Jews and their transfer to Israel. Israel sent a number of its excellent goats to Cuba, and Fidel's promise to release several hundred Cuban Jews and send them to Israel was fulfilled. During those years, Israel and revolutionary Cuba praised each other and had full diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level. The Zionists (Jewish nationalists) who established the state of Israel based on kibbutzim and collective farms, a successful and unique form of Jewish socialism, were admired by revolutionary governments like Cuba at the beginning of Israel's existence. After the success of the Cuban revolution led by the young Fidel Castro, Joel Bar-Romi, a Cuban-born Jew, was sent as ambassador, and Israel quickly opened its embassy in Havana. The ambassador sent by Castro to Israel was Dr. Ricardo Wolf, a wealthy Jewish Cuban supporter of the revolutionaries in his country. According to Haaretz, Dr. Wolf, given Fidel Castro's intense interest in Israeli agriculture and animal husbandry, had told Israeli agricultural officials that he wanted to gift a number of excellent goats to Cuba. Clara Malhi, who was the secretary to the then Cuban ambassador and is now a very elderly lady, told Haaretz that she had heard from Dr. Wolf that Castro was confident that each Israeli goat gives as much milk as a cow, and the goats sent to him did not disappoint him. Isaac Zilber, a Cuban-born Jew living in Israel who is now 89 years old, recounted that the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture had tasked him with finding the best goats to send to Castro. Mr. Zilber, who still keeps photos of the goats sent by plane, recalled the many troubles he faced in obtaining the necessary permits for the goats and then sending them by cargo plane! He mentioned that the plane had to stop several times in cities around the world for the goats to graze and be milked so that they arrived in good condition in Cuba and were gifted to Fidel. However, Castro's love for Israeli goats and their milk did not maintain relations between Cuba and Israel. From the early 1970s, as Israel's relations with the United States strengthened, socialist countries distanced themselves from supporting Israel and friendship with this country, and Fidel Castro also severed relations with Israel in 1973 during the Arab-Israeli war, like many socialist countries. The scientific, cultural, and educational foundation that Ricardo Wolf established in Israel with his immense wealth has recently produced a film about the tumultuous love-hate relationship between Israel and Cuba, in which the story of the 'secret deal of goats for Cuban Jews' has also been revealed during the film's production.