Kesher Talk

Bringing Ethiopians to Israel: On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved Interior Minister Eli Yishai's plan to immediately bring some 20,000 Falashmura from Ethiopia to Israel.

About 80,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel, many of them brought over in massive airlifts during times of crisis in Ethiopia in 1984 and 1991. The Falashmura are Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity, while maintaining some Jewish traditions. Unable to prove their Jewish roots, most of the Falashmura were not allowed to immigrate to Israel, even though many have family ties to the Jewish state. In recent years, some 18,000 Falashmura have left homes in outlying regions of Ethiopia in anticipation of moving to Israel, and have rented mud huts near two compounds run by immigration activists in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, and in the northern city of Gondar. Some Falashmura have immigrated to Israel, either by proving they have a Jewish grandparent, or under reunification laws if other family members had proved eligible for immigration.

posted by William @ 2/21/2003 09:04:34 AM