This paper argues that the ‘Adeni Jewish Emergency Committee (“the Committee”) played a decisive role in laying the groundwork for Operation On Eagles’ Wings, the mass migration of Jews from Yemen and ‘Aden to Israel in 1949 and 1950. To that end, it also analyzes the tense relationships between the Committee and both British colonial authorities and the Zionist movement in Mandate Palestine and Israel. One objective of this paper is to highlight the agency of ‘Adeni Jewish leaders. The minimal research on ‘Adeni Jews as political actors during this period is a significant lacuna in the academic literature. In December of 1947, a wave of violence rocked the British Protectorate of ‘Aden. From the ruins of Jewish ’Aden, a new leadership consolidated its influence under the Committee’s banner. Chaired by the merchant Selim Banin, the Committee built relationships with international Jewish organizations and with the British colonial authorities. Committee leaders learned and utilized the language of British colonialism, reproducing orientalist constructions of Yemeni Arabs and appealing to an ostensible British commitment to abstract ideals of “justice” and “equality.” At the same time, in their correspondence with Jews in Palestine/Israel, Britain, and the United States, they expressed a deep mistrust toward the British authorities, whose divide-and-rule policies had resulted in the 1947 violence. This paper unpacks the scant archival material available on the Committee to argue that a letter Banin received from the British authorities in response to the Committee’s lobbying marked the central policy shift that secured British authorization for Operation On Eagles’ Wings. It sheds light on the Committee’s role in facilitating negotiations between the British regime and Israeli representatives. The paper also reconstructs the complex and tense relationships that the Committee formed with both the British authorities and the (Zionist) Jewish Agency. Those relationships situated the Committee to perform a mediating role between the two parties. The Committee’s relationship with the Jewish Agency was complicated by the reality that the Committee itself was divided on the question of Zionism. Some leading members, such as B. J. Ya‘ish, were Zionists, but others, including Banin himself, viewed the Zionist project with ambivalence. Banin even implicitly threatened an ‘Adeni Jewish anti-Zionist declaration if the Jewish Agency refused to dedicate resources to protecting Yemeni and ‘Adeni Jews. Later Committee reports highlighted the consequences of mass emigration for the ‘Adeni Jews who stayed, tragically narrating the collapse of the remaining community’s institutions.