More than 300 Ethiopian Jews make Aliyah after years separated from relatives
Israeli prime minister says: 'My wife and I were standing there with tears in our eyes', calling the intake 'the essence of our Jewish and Zionist story'
Hundreds of emigrating Ethiopian Jews have arrived in Israel after Benjamin Netanyahu finally made good on his 2015 pledge to reunite families.
More than 300 people landed at Ben-Gurion Airport on Thursday morning, many kissing the ground as they disembarked, as officials including Netanyahu Israel’s first Ethiopian-born minister lined up to greet them.
“My wife and I were standing there with tears in our eyes,” said Netanyahu. “This is the essence of our Jewish story, the essence of the Zionist story.”
Another 100 are due to arrive imminently, and although Israel’s religious authorities do not recognise them as Jewish, they all come from Jewish lineage.
In 2015, Netanyahu promised to bring them to Israel, but despite this week’s arrivals, up to 7,000 remain in Ethiopia.
The Jewish Agency said it was “part one of Operation Zur Israel” and follows ministerial pledges in October of this year to make good on the 2015 commitment and bring 2,000 Ethiopians to Israel, many of whom have been waiting for decades.
Ethiopian-born minister of aliyah and integration Pnina Tamano-Shata said it was “an attempt to bridge the decades-long gap for thousands of Ethiopian Jews who were left behind after Operation Solomon and the government decisions that followed”.
Tamano-Shata added that the new arrivals had been waiting to “not only fulfill their dream of Israel and Jerusalem but to meet their basic request of reuniting with their families here in Israel… It was extremely difficult and unsettling for me to see so many living with malnutrition, poverty and in extreme conditions”.
Jewish Agency chair Isaac Herzog said: “It’s incredibly moving to watch… We will continue this airlift of 2,000 olim who will reunite with their families in Israel after many years of separation.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
