Some 240 immigrants from India’s Bnei Menashe community arrived in Israel, the first group in a renewed government-backed operation aimed at bringing the remaining members of the community to the country.
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New Beni Menashe immigrants reunite with relatives upon arrival in Israel
(Photo: Maxim Dinshtein/The Jewish Agency )
The immigrants landed at Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday as part of “Wings of Dawn,” a joint initiative led by the Aliyah and Integration Ministry and the Jewish Agency. They were greeted by Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer, Jewish Agency Chairman Doron Almog, World Zionist Organization Chairman Yaakov Hagoel and Sephardic Chief Rabbi David Yosef.
The arrivals are the first of three flights expected over the next two weeks, bringing about 600 Bnei Menashe immigrants from northeastern India. The new immigrants, many of them young families, are expected to move initially into Jewish Agency absorption centers in Nof HaGalil, where some will reunite with relatives who immigrated in previous years.
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Members of India's Bnei Menashe community arrive as immigrants in Israel
(Photo: Maxim Dinshtein/The Jewish Agency )
The operation follows a government decision approved in November to complete the immigration of the Bnei Menashe community, whose members live mainly in the Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur. About 4,000 members of the community have immigrated to Israel over the past two decades. Under the current plan, about 1,200 more are expected to arrive by the end of 2026, with the immigration of approximately 4,800 additional community members expected to be completed by 2030.
In all, officials say about 6,000 immigrants are expected to arrive under the operation.
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Minister of Aliyah and Integration Ofir Sofer, Jewish Agency Chairman Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, Jewish Agency CEO and Director General Yehuda Setton, Chairman of the World Zionist Organization Yaakov Hagoel, and other leadership with the new Bnei Menashe olim upon arrival in Israel
(Photo: Maxim Dinshtein/The Jewish Agency)
Sofer called the arrival “history,” saying Israel was working to bring “the entire Bnei Menashe community” to the country.
“There is no more fitting and moving time to welcome a plane full of olim than right after the State’s 78th Independence Day — welcome home,” he said.
Almog said the arrival showed that “the Zionist vision continues to be realized day by day.”
“Members of the Bnei Menashe community bring with them unconditional love for the State of Israel,” he said. “Our responsibility is not only to receive, but to accompany, embrace and create for them a foundation of opportunity, belonging and future.”