Israeli gov't D-Gs to visit Ethiopia, try to finalize aliyah for good

A delegation of director-generals of Israeli government ministries will embark on a mission to Ethiopia in July after which it will suggest to the cabinet a plan that will be intended to end the aliyah from Ethiopia.

According to a letter written by the director-generals of the Jewish Agency and the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, obtained by The Jerusalem Post, a “professional delegation of government ministries to Ethiopia,” will take place for four days beginning July 2nd. “The ministry and the Jewish Agency are working in Ethiopia to immigrate 3,000 eligible olim [immigrants to Israel] who were approved by the Interior Ministry, as part of Government Resolution No. 713,” the letter stated, of the decision made by a Naftali Bennett led government in 2021. 

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The delegation will be led by Aliyah and Integration Ministry Director-General Avichai Kahana and Jewish Agency Director-General Amira Aharonowitz, and they will be joined by representation from almost all of the government ministries.

The letter said that “the implementation of the government's decision and the immigration process is very complex and is managed in Ethiopia by the Jewish Agency together with many partners in the various government ministries.”

“We are turning to you, as key partners in the implementation of the government's decision, to personally join or to send a senior representative on your behalf, to participate in this professional delegation, led by the Aliyah and Absorption Ministry and the Jewish Agency,” the letter read.

It explained that the goal of this delegation is to “strengthen the partnership and the professional relationships,” regarding issues of immigration, specifically from Ethiopia.

According to the letter, the delegation will meet with those waiting for aliyah in Addis Ababa and Gondar and visit “the synagogue, the classrooms [in the Jewish school] and the food program [of the Jewish community].”

In addition, the director-generals of the ministries “will participate in a tour of Jewish historical sites, Jewish cemeteries and visit an exhibit of the emigration route of Ethiopian Jews on their journey to Israel via Sudan,” as well as a visit to the office of the Jewish Agency and a meeting with the Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia.

The expedition is expected to leave on July 2, 2023, and will last for 4 days. Each ministry will fund the flight to Ethiopia and the hotel, while the Jewish Agency will cover the rest of the costs of the tour, as well as the flight back to Israel with Ethiopian olim.

Ethiopian Jews in Ethiopia

The number of approved olim remaining in Ethiopia is 919, according to Shay Felber, director of the Aliyah and Absorption Unit and deputy director-general, who spoke at the Aliyah, Integration and Diaspora Knesset Committee three weeks ago. 

According to Felber's statement at the committee, these 919 people are expected to make aliyah during the month of June. Therefore, the government delegation isn't expected to meet any members of the community that were approved for aliyah, since they are expected to already be in Israel in July.

It is important to note that most of the olim from Ethiopia in recent years aren’t considered Jews according to Jewish Law and could not be eligible for aliyah according to Israel’s Law of Return. The vast majority of olim are family members of Israeli citizens who are given Israeli citizenship as a humanitarian effort.

Those who support the community in Gondar and in Addis Ababa claim that those who aren’t eligible for aliyah are descendants of Jews whose ancestors were forced to convert to Christianity and therefore should be allowed to make aliyah.

After returning to Israel, the director-generals of the ministries, together with the Jewish Agency, are expected to discuss the situation in Ethiopia, in order to find practical solutions. Sources in the government told the Post that the government could decide to totally end the aliyah from Ethiopia. Scenarios can be an effort to bring all close to 5,000 of those waiting in the camps for aliyah and not allow any other family members to arrive - yet there are other suggestions being examined.

Attorney Dr. Yona Cherki from the Israeli Immigration Policy Center criticized the planned government delegation to Ethiopia and said that “over the years, the governments of Israel and the public authorities have determined in various government decisions that the aliyah operation from Ethiopia, which has been ongoing since the early 1980s, is coming to an end.”

He continued saying that at the same time, “away from the public eye, these same authorities are actually implementing the policy dictated by American organizations to continue the endless duplication of immigration from Ethiopia, under the guise of a return to Judaism of those who claim that their ancestors converted to Christianity, without any proof of it, in order to immigrate to Israel.”

Cherki added that the opposition to the continued aliyah from Ethiopia “entitles those who stand firm against this move to be called derogatory for ‘racism.’ Cherki continued by saying that "sending a delegation to the camps in Ethiopia in July, when even according to the agency's claim that in June no eligible people will be given up in Ethiopia, is in fact a message that the story of the non-Jewish immigration from Ethiopia will continue to replicate itself under the authority of government ministries and bureaucrats."

He concluded that in practice, “the [Israeli] authorities have been cooperating with each other in a move that is contrary not only to the Law of Return but also to the government decisions.”

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