Israel brings over 70 new olim from Ethiopia
The Falash Mura members were brought to Israel from Ethiopia due to a government decision, with some saying they have not seen their family in 25 years; Israel promised to bring over 9,000 Falash Mura members.
Some 70 Ethiopian immigrants arrived in Israel on Tuesday as part of a joint operation between the Jewish Agency and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. Their arrival was made possible due to a government decision passed on November 2015, which agreed to bring over 9,000 members of the Falash Mura community from Ethiopia, but activists criticized the slow pace at which the decision has been implemented.
Dozens of excited family members gathered at Ben-Gurion Airport to meet their relatives, whom they had not seen for many years. Among them was Malaso Bardokai, who waited quietly to greet his daughter, whom he had not seen in a decade. "We have been waiting for this for so long, and now the family is finally reuniting," he said.
Eliyahu Tadale was waiting for his nephews, whom he has not seen since Operation Solomon. "It's been 25 years. My brother has not seen his children all these years, and only after we fought for it were his children allowed to make Aliyah to Israel. I'm very excited to see them, and years of uncertainty. "
After a three-year halt in the Aliyah process, in October 2016, the Aliyah project from Ethiopia was renewed, as an implementation of the government decision from November 2015, to bring over the Falash Mura community within five years.
The plan's renewal was made possible after months of the Prime Minister's Office's foot dragging only after a coalition crisis led by Likud MKs Dudi Amsalem and Avraham Neguise.
Following the pressure exerted by the two MKs, the government decided in August 2016 to ring over 1,300 of the 9,000 who are waiting in transit camps in the Ethiopian cities of Gondar and Addis Ababa, but the 70 immigrants who landed on Tuesday are only the second group to arrive since the government's decision.
"We are happy to be partners in family unification and to help bring people who have been waiting for many years to come to Israel ," said International Christian Embassy President, Dr. Jürgen Bühler. "Some of the families have been splitup for over two decades. We have the honor to bring them to Israel."
