The Israeli government on Monday has approved the transfer to Israel of two thousand Ethiopian citizens of the community known as “Falash Mura”, formed by the descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity over a century ago, often under the constraint of European missionaries. Since then many have begun to practice Judaism again, but for the Israeli government they have never been able to take advantage of the so-called “Law of Return”, the one that guarantees all people of the Jewish religion to settle in Israel and obtain Israeli citizenship. The measure approved on Monday, although considered a first step to resolve the dispute over the Falash Mura for decades, has been criticized by many Ethiopian Israeli activists, who would like all members of the community, about eight thousand people, to be welcomed into Israel.
The story of Ethiopian Jewish migrants in Israel is quite complex and has been the subject of heated discussion for years.
The Jewish community in Ethiopia is known as Beta Israel, which means House of Israel. For a very long time its members were excluded from the main currents of Judaism, but the Israeli authorities continued to recognize them as Jews recipients of the Law of Return: starting from the 1970s, in fact, tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel from Ethiopia , a country where they were persecuted. For them, however, living conditions in Israel proved complicated, with acts of racism and episodes of excessive use of force by the police.
Many of the Israelis of Ethiopian origin living in Israel today, around 150,000 people in all, have failed to integrate into Israeli society, live in poverty and have difficulty finding work.
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The situation of the Falash Mura, who are part of the larger Beta Israel community, is even more complicated, because the Israeli government does not recognize them as “completely Jewish”: to migrate to Israel they need a special permit and once they enter the country are undergoing a conversion process, also intended for those who already practice the Jewish religion.
In 2015 Israel approved a plan to welcome all Falash Mura still in Ethiopia, about 10,000 people, by the end of 2020. The plan was suspended a few months later, however, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that there was not enough money. , and only two thousand emigrated.
Even the plan presented on Monday did not satisfy Ethiopian Israeli activists, who would like the Israeli government’s initiative to appeal to all members of the community, many of whom have been trying to relocate to Israel for over twenty years. In response to criticism, Pnina Tamano-Shata – Israel’s immigration minister and the first Ethiopian-born politician to win a seat in the Israeli parliament – said she plans to present her government with a broader plan to accommodate thousands of other Ethiopians. Jews in the next three years.
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