Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Israel’s justice minister has vowed to help Ethiopia’s Jews migrate to Israel soon, as some threaten a hunger strike.
Ethiopia’s Falashmuras are believed to be descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. Thousands of Falashmuras moved to Israel following the creation of a Law of Return in 1975.
About 140,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel today, mainly in the Amhara and Tigray provinces. They are a small minority in a country of over 8 million. Their assimilation hasn’t been smooth, however, with many arriving without suitable education and then falling into unemployment and poverty.
Those who remained complain of being separated from family members for decades.
Although many of those in Ethiopia are practising Jews, Israel doesn’t consider them Jewish, meaning they are not automatically eligible to immigrate under the law that grants automatic citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent. Instead, the government must grant them a permit on arrival.
But Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, during a rare visit to Ethiopia on Sunday, promised to resolve the decades-long migration issue.
Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald (AP).