Tag Archive for Ethiopian Jews

| December 3, 2020
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Israel welcomes 316 new immigrants from Ethiopia

Hundreds of new immigrants arrive in Israel from Ethiopia on the 1st flight of “Operation Zur Israel” (“Rock of Israel”).
– PM Netanyahu: “I can’t remember being so moved by such a distilled sight of Zionism… Welcome to the State of Israel! The Ethiopian community is returning to the motherland, step by step.”

By Sivan Hilaie, Associated Press

 

Hundreds of members of the Jewish community in Ethiopia arrived in Israel Thursday morning as part of Operation Rock of Israel which aims to reunite families and their relatives who have immigrated to Israel in the past.

Thousands of people with Jewish roots waiting in Ethiopia to come to Israel, 2,000 of which are expected to arrive in the Jewish state by January 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent outbreak of war in the northern Tigray region. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| February 9, 2020
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Book reveals how Mossad resort in Sudan hosted Osama Bin Laden

The new book’s author tells the Daily Mail how the Mossad’s phony Red Sea diving-school resort, set up to smuggle starving Ethiopian Jews out of war-torn Sudan, was later used by the Al Qaeda chief for his terror HQ.

By Ynet

 

The author of a new book “Red Sea spies” that sheds light on an operation conducted by Israeli secret service [Operation Brothers] to smuggle Ethiopian Jews from inhospitable Sudan, claims the leader of Al Qaeda terror group used the site as his headquarters in the country some years later.

In an interview published in the Daily Mail on Saturday, Raffi Berg said a Sudanese businessman who invested in the resort confirmed that Osama Bin Laden stayed at the location for at least two weeks sometime in 1991, at least six years after the secret Mossad operation was completed. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| February 6, 2019
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80 Ethiopian Jews brought to Israel in ‘Operation Yehudith’

“The Operation Yehudith campaign to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel is a very moving moment, and all of Israel welcomes you,” said Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog at a special reception at Ben Gurion Airport.

By the Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Eighty Ethiopian Jews landed in Israel on Monday in the first wave of new immigration since the government said last year that it would let some of the 8,000 remaining community members join relatives in Israel.

Local Ethiopian-Israelis welcomed the newcomers after years of delays. The newcomers are members of the Falash Mura community – the descendants of Jews who converted to Christianity under pressure from missionaries in the 19th and 20th centuries.  Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| April 13, 2017
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IDF Major tells of her return to Ethiopian birthplace for spiritual Passover Seder

 

In an emotional letter, Maj. Yaros Shigot shares her unique experience as an IDF soldier who, for the first time, returned to her birthplace in Ethiopia where she read the Haggadah with the Jewish community on Passover night.

By Maj. Yaros Shigot

 

This is the story of a most exciting and unique Passover Seder for Ethiopian-born Maj. Yaros (Yerushalem) Shigot, who returned to Ethiopia this week for the first time since immigrating to Israel.The following moving letter, which was written to Yedioth Ahronoth by Shigot, who serves in the IDF’s Education Corps, contains the recordings of her journey, in which she shares her family history of their arduous journey to Israel, and explains why she shed tears while reading the Haggadah with the Jewish community in Addis Ababa. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| October 5, 2016
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Christian org to finance next round of Jewish Ethiopian immigration to Israel

 

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is donating $500,000 to cover the cost of flights for 523 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.

By TAMARA ZIEVE

 

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) announced Wednesday that it is sponsoring the first wave of renewed Ethiopian aliya. The government reached an agreement in July to bring 9,000 Falash Mura to Israel by the end of 2020, beginning with 1,300 Ethiopians who are expected to arrive by the end of 2016. This followed a more than two-year hiatus after a declaration of the “end of Ethiopian aliya,” which left many families separated.

Young Ethiopian Jews prepare for Passover Seder.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| August 11, 2016
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Racist classified ad against Ethiopian women causes outrage in Israel

 

Members of the Ethiopian community in Israel, the employment agency and the fashion company Expose, were all outraged by truly “a public, shameless display of racism,” in wanted ad looking for a warehouse employee, stressing, “We don’t want Ethiopian women.”

By Danny Adino Ababa

 

A racist classified ad posted by an employment agency on behalf of a fashion company has raised ire after including a discriminatory requirement: “We don’t want Ethiopian women.”

The ad was removed, but Israelis of Ethiopian descent have demanded authorities take measures against the two companies.The fashion company Expose, which is based at the Caesarea industrial park, hired the L.M. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| April 7, 2016
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Historic achievement: Another 1,300 Ethiopian Jews ‘returning’ home

 

Even in the face of budget constraints, two Likud MKs forced Netanyahu’s hand, making him backtrack after scrapping resolution on Ethiopian aliyah.

By Hezki Ezra

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday reached an agreement with MK David Amsalem of his party, according to which 1,300 Ethiopian Jews will be brought home on aliyah to Israel over the course of the current year.

refused to vote with the coalition in protest since early March. The move came after Netanyahu’s office canceled the Knesset decision from last November to bring Ethiopia’s 9,000 remaining Jews to Israel, citing budget constraints as a reason. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| March 28, 2016
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Israel’s National Library Receives Rare Ethiopian Torah

 

Used by the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Ethiopia’s Tigray province around 400 years ago, the Orit, translated from Hebrew to Ge’ez, contains the 5 books of Moses, the books of Joshua, Judges & Ruth.

By Yori Yalon

 

A rare copy of the “Orit,” the Ethiopian Jewish Torah, was delivered last week to the National Library of Israel in a festive ceremony full of singing and dancing.

A rare copy of the “Orit,” the Ethiopian Jewish Torah – Photo Courtesy of the National Library of Israel

The scroll, translated from Hebrew to Ge’ez, was written around 400 years ago and used by the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Ethiopia’s Tigray province, Isaac Yaso. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: ,
| July 28, 2015
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Israel Interior Minister Plans to Bring 7,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel

Israel’s Interior Minister: The 7000 family members of 500 Ethiopian-Israeli IDF soldiers who are still waiting to come to Israel, will be brought ‘home’.

By HAYAH GOLDLIST-EICHLER

 

Families of some 500 Ethiopian Israeli IDF soldiers will be brought to Israel, announced Interior Minister Silvan Shalom at a joint meeting between the Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Committee and the Interior Committee at the Knesset on Monday.

IDF soldiers take part in a ceremony marking the Ethiopian Jewish holiday of Sigd – Photo: REUTERS

In addition to immediately working to bring the 500 families of the soldiers, Shalom also announced his intent to bring the rest of the Jewish Ethiopian community to Israel, numbering some 7,000 people.

Continue Reading »
Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| February 23, 2014
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Holy City of Jerusalem Becomes Break-Dancing Mecca

Israel’s style may yet meet the Bronx standards, but Israeli immigrants from the Ukraine, Ethiopia & Russia are putting together their own unique repertoire.

By

 

They have names like Elastic, G-Rock, Aladdin, Pac Man and Splinter. They sport hoodies, backwards baseball caps and Adidas footwear. They dance in circles, but they don’t do the hora; they’re Israeli b-boys and b-girls, and they have serious flavor.

Break dancing

Action from a Break dancing competition at the Israel Goldstein Youth Village in Jerusalem, February 2014. – Photo: Emil Salman

Israel’s top break dancers took part in the “Prove Yourself B-Boy Jam” on Thursday, competing in head-to-head battles before a transfixed crowd of students and friends at the Israel Goldstein Youth Village in Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| July 16, 2013
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Final operation to retrieve ‘left-behind’ Jews in Ethiopia

6,300 Jewish Ethiopians made it to Israel in last three years.

 

From now, aliyah requests for Falashmura Jews to be handled on individual basis, like everywhere else.

By Danny Adeno Abebe

On August 28, two last flights will land in Israel, bringing 400 Falashmura new immigrants to the holy land. After this, the Jewish Agency will be closing down its camp in Gondar and the interior minister will hold an emergency hearing for all those who received negative answers.

Protest for Falash Mura in Jerusalem. Yearning for left-behind relatives to come to Israel. (archives) – Photo: Guy Assayag

Since 2010, 6,300 Falashmura Jews have been accepted for aliyah, thousands more were refused and at the end of August, for the last time, 400 will make aliyah, on two incoming flights. Continue Reading »

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| March 15, 2013
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Ethiopians seek compensation for loved ones who perished making Aliyah

Ethiopian groups turn to High Court seeking reparation for family members who died en route to Israel.

Groups point to State negligence during aliyah operation as leading to ‘tragedy’.

Aviel Magnezi

 

The State initiated the aliyah of Ethiopian Jews, and hence it must compensate families whose loved one’s perished along the way, claim representatives of the Ethiopian community who filed a like minded High Court petition Thursday.

הפגנה של יהודי אתיופיה ב-1987 להעלאת קרוביהם (צילום: מגי איילון, לע"מ)

Protest demanding aliyah of remaining Ethiopians – Photo: Megi Eylon

According to the petition, the aliyah of Ethiopian Jews in the beginning of the 80’s, was undertaken under the auspices of the State of Israel and it is responsible for its sloppy execution. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| February 9, 2013
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IDF to seek solutions to Ethiopian troops’ adjustment problems

Brig.-Gen. Eli Shermeister, who heads the Israel Defense Forces Education & Youth Corps, set up the unit last month to tackle the anomaly.

 

By JTA

A new IDF unit will work on integrating Ethiopian recruits, who are over-represented in army prisons.

In its policy of supporting diversity in the IDF, new immigrants from Ethiopia and IDF officers plant trees for tomorrow. Israel has 120,000 Ethiopian citizens, many of whom proudly serve in the IDF. – Photo Courtesy of IDF Spokesperson Unit.

Army Radio reported that Brig.-Gen. Eli Shermeister, who heads the Israel Defense Forces Education and Youth Corps, set up the unit last month after senior IDF officers learned that half of all Ethiopian soldiers were sentenced to prison at some time during their military service. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| January 14, 2013
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Remaining Ethiopian Jews plan Return to the ‘Promised Land’

Members of Falah Mura say they’re suffering from long separation from family members who have already left Ethiopia & feel eager to become Israeli.

By AFP

 

It was one of the most daring operations in Ethiopian history: Israel’s 1991 airlift of Ethiopian Jews, when nearly 15,000 people were crammed into a series of non-stop flights lasting 36 hours.

Ethiopian Jews

Clutching only a few belongings, in planes with seats removed to make more space, they left a nation their ancestors had called home for two millennia for a land they knew only from scripture.

More than two decades later, some 2,000 descendants and relatives of those Israel had identified as original Jews are set to join them in the Holy Land. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags:
| October 29, 2012
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1st flight of last Ethiopian Aliya set to arrive

1st flight of Operation Dove’s Wings, should bring remaining 240 Ethiopian ‘New Immigrants’ to Israel by March 2014.

By JTA

 

A charter flight of some 240 Ethiopian Jews is set to arrive in Israel Monday afternoon, the beginning of the final stages of aliya from Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Jews [illustrative] - Photo: Ruth Eglash

Ethiopian Jews [illustrative] – Photo: Ruth Eglash

Monday’s scheduled flight marks the beginning of Operation Dove’s Wings, an Israeli government initiative to bring the remainder of the Falash Mura — Ethiopians whose ancestors converted from Judaism to Christianity — to Israel by March 2014.

The Ethiopians are waiting in a refugee camp in the Gondar province before coming to Israel.

Continue Reading »
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