Worthy Christian News > Israel-Palestinian Conflict > Christians assist as Israel continues airlift of Ethiopian Falash Mura Jews

Christians assist as Israel continues airlift of Ethiopian Falash Mura Jews

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Christians were among those who helped 181 Falash Mura Ethiopian immigrants arrive at Ben Gurion airport in Israel from Addis Ababa on Wednesday. The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and the Fellowship of Christians and Jews assisted the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency to bring in the new arrivals, who are among several thousand Falsah Mura Ethiopians approved for immigration to Israel by November.

The Israeli government brought the vast majority of Ethiopian Jews to Israel during the massive Operation Solomon airlift of 1991, but the Falash Mura were largely left behind: the Falash Mura are Ethiopian Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity, and who do not automatically qualify for immigration under Israel’s Law of Return.

Accordingly, there has been a fierce debate within Israel about whether those Falash Mura who remain in Ethiopia should be allowed to move to Israel. However, in the last 20 years, successive Israel governments have sporadically approved the airlifting of Falash Mura and, in light of the current civil war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, in November 2021, the government approved 3,000 more to come this year, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports.

The newly approved intake was delayed in their arrival because the right-wing Israeli Immigration Policy Center filed a High Court appeal against the government’s decision. However, the High Court dismissed the petition, and preparations for the airlift resumed, TOI said.

In a statement about the new intake, Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, herself originally from Ethiopia, said: “When I look at these children and their parents and I hear their stories, their struggle is my struggle – and it must be the struggle of all Israel.