(Nov 28, 2011, JP)--Up to 1,000 Ethiopian-born immigrants protested Sunday opposite the Immigrant Absorption Ministry over a recent government recommendation to reduce the number of new olim arriving each month.
The immigrants, or Falash Mura (Ethiopian Jews whose ancestors converted to Christianity more than a century ago) – many of whom still have family members living in Ethiopia – called on the government to keep the commitment it made a year ago to wind up aliya from the East African Nation within the next three years.
The protesters’ central demand is for the ministry to open additional centers to absorb the new immigrants so they can continue to arrive here at a rate of 200 people per month.
While the government – which has appointed the Jewish Agency For Israel (JAFI) to facilitate this final phase of mass Ethiopian immigration – has fulfilled its annual quota, bringing in some 2,400 new immigrants, it is also under pressure to make sure the socioeconomic pressures of absorbing this community do not become too great.
Along those lines, an interministerial commission made a recommendation this past summer to reduce the number of new immigrants from 200 per month to 110 per month, starting from November 15 this year until March 1, 2015. Read more from JPost »
The immigrants, or Falash Mura (Ethiopian Jews whose ancestors converted to Christianity more than a century ago) – many of whom still have family members living in Ethiopia – called on the government to keep the commitment it made a year ago to wind up aliya from the East African Nation within the next three years.The protesters’ central demand is for the ministry to open additional centers to absorb the new immigrants so they can continue to arrive here at a rate of 200 people per month.
While the government – which has appointed the Jewish Agency For Israel (JAFI) to facilitate this final phase of mass Ethiopian immigration – has fulfilled its annual quota, bringing in some 2,400 new immigrants, it is also under pressure to make sure the socioeconomic pressures of absorbing this community do not become too great.
Along those lines, an interministerial commission made a recommendation this past summer to reduce the number of new immigrants from 200 per month to 110 per month, starting from November 15 this year until March 1, 2015. Read more from JPost »
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