Ethiopian Immigrants Arrive In Israel — First In 7 Months
JERUSALEM (JTA) — More than 70 new Ethiopian immigrants landed in Israel Tuesday, the first to arrive in more than seven months.
The 72 immigrants identified as Falash Mura, or Ethiopians who claim Jewish heritage, landed on Tuesday as part of a joint operation between the Jewish Agency and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. They were greeted at Ben Gurion International Airport by family members, many who had not seen each other in more than a decade, according to reports.
Two more aliyah flights from Ethiopia are scheduled for June, the Times of Israel reported.
Some 9,000 Ethiopian Falash Mura remain in the country awaiting immigration to Israel.
In 2013, Israel’s Interior Ministry approved the immigration of the remaining Falash Mura, and the Knesset in November 2015 unanimously approved a plan to bring some of them over following a public campaign launched by the nation’s Ethiopian community and volunteer organizations. But the plan did not deal with the finances, which include the long-term costs of acclimating the immigrants.
An agreement to find money in the budget for the aliyah of the Falash Mura was signed in April 2016. Some 100 immigrants were supposed to arrive in Israel each month after that, but the process has been more protracted.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30