After nearly 30 years, aliya from Ethiopia came to a formal close Wednesday, with two final charter flights containing 450 Falash Mura landing at Ben Gurion Airport in the late afternoon.
fter nearly 30 years, aliya from Ethiopia came to a formal close Wednesday, with two final charter flights containing 450 Falash Mura landing at Ben Gurion Airport in the late afternoon.
The end of the Falash Mura aliya from Ethiopia has been plagued by ongoing strife surrounding the group’s limited immigration to Israel and those left behind; with some questioning the group’s connections to Judaism and others arguing that Israel should have taken more of them in.
Women from the Falash Mura community waiting in Gondar to be transported to Israel in 2012.
The arrival of the group in Israel was clouded by criticism from Falash Mura immigrants already in Israel who claimed many of their relatives were stranded in Ethiopia, charging the government with abandoning them and calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reconsider allowing them to make aliya. Hundreds of Ethiopian Israelis protested outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem Wednesday ahead of the scheduled landing of the flights.
Some 12,000 members of the Falash Mura community in Ethiopia, centered in and around the city of Gondar in the north of the country, have not been granted permission by the Interior Ministry to make aliya.
Yesh Atid MK Dov Lipman urged the government to reconsider. “I welcome the new Immigrants arriving today. However, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters of Ethiopians who are already in Israel who are being left behind. And, we won’t leave them behind,” he said.
Source: timesofisrael
Lees: Operatie Duivenvleugel: Einde immigratie uit Ethiopië
Photo's: Jewish Agency