Hundreds of members of Ethiopian olim in Israel protested Sunday morning outside of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, demanding continued immigration from Ethiopia.
This protest also focused on the fact that the current government budget, which is being voted on during the next few weeks, “does not include a budget for aliyah from Ethiopia.”
The issue of aliyah from Ethiopia is complex: Many special operations took place mainly since the 1980s in order to assist the Beta Israel community to fulfill their dream of reconnecting to the Jewish nation in Israel after thousands of years.
Yet the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency have announced numerous times that the official aliyah from Ethiopia has ended, but it has since been renewed many times.
Israel promised aliyah of Ethiopians with first-degree relatives in Israel
In 2015, the Israeli government committed to the continued aliyah of Ethiopians who have a first-degree relative in Israel, when in practice the implementation of the decision was partial. Many of Israel’s previous governments have purposely taken their time with regard to the implementation of the government decision.
In 2021, 1,636 immigrants from Ethiopia came to Israel as part of Operation Zur Israel, which renewed the immigration of Jews from the country after a years-long hiatus. This operation was led by former Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano Shata (the National Unity Party), who is a member of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel.
Surafel Alamo, the coordinator of the Struggle to Save Ethiopian Jewry said on Sunday in a statement that “we are not second-class citizens. While I fought for Israel in a variety of operations [as a soldier], I had to fight for many years until my sisters were allowed to immigrate to Israel. We do not deserve this and I will do everything so that the suffering I went through will not be the share of my friends.”
Alamo added that “we will not be silent about inequality and injustice and we will continue with more demonstrations until the Israeli government chooses to do the right Zionist, Jewish and moral thing.”
Former MK Avraham Neguise (Likud), who has been one of the leaders of the movement calling for extended aliyah from Ethiopia added that “although the decision aimed at speeding up the aliyah [from Ethiopia] was made back in 2015 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the suffering of the families in Israel continues. The Jewish community in Ethiopia is in a bad nutritional state and lives in harsh conditions. We will fight in order to dry the tears of the suffering families in Israel and their brothers and sisters in Addis Ababa and Gondar.”
Gebra Warko, chairwoman of the Shaar Yishuv organization for aliyah and integration of Ethiopian Jews added to what her colleagues have said and stated that “on the one hand, the Israeli government is working above and beyond in order to promote mass immigration from Eastern Europe. On the other hand, it ignores thousands of Israeli citizens who suffer for many decades from being separated from their brothers, sisters and parents who are waiting in the Jewish community in Ethiopia while their lives are in danger. The demonstration this morning is just the beginning.”
According to official government statistics, at the end of 2021, the population of Ethiopian origin in Israel numbered 164.4 thousand residents – 90.6 thousand born in Ethiopia and 73.8 thousand born in Israel, whose father was born in Ethiopia
In 1984, about 7,000 Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel as part of a secret effort known as Operation Moses. Later on, Israeli security services embarked on even more daring operations, code-named Operation Solomon (1991), which rescued a further 20,000 Jews.
Many veteran olim from Ethiopia are against this triumph of aliyah since they claim that there are no longer any Jews living in Ethiopia and that this is just a humanitarian effort that will never end, since there will always be relatives of the relatives who immigrated who will also want to join them.
In addition, the olim from Ethiopia nowadays are expected to convert to Judaism after arriving in Israel. The fact that they aren’t acknowledged as Jews by the State of Israel and therefore many senior figures in this current government don’t want to push this immigration forward.
