Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Organized immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel ends

(Aug 28, 2013, (JERUSALEM))--A plane carrying 450 immigrants from Ethiopia on Wednesday will mark the end of Israel's decades-long effort to bring Jews and their descendants from the African nation to the Jewish state.

About 90,000 Ethiopians were brought to Israel in the organized immigration project that began with a dramatic airlift in 1984-85 dubbed "Operation Moses" and continued with the 36-hour "Operation Solomon" in 1991.

Left behind at that time were thousands of the Falash Mura, the name given to the descendants of the ancient Jewish community who converted to Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries, most often under pressure. The end of airlifts left some families divided between Ethiopia and Israel.

The Israeli government decided in 2010 to bring the rest of the Falash Mura, many of whom had waited for years in transit camps in Gondar, Ethiopia. Another 7,000 Ethiopians have arrived in the last year in the last of the organized operations, titled "Dove's Wings." Read more from LA Times »

No comments:

Post a Comment