Last Ethiopian immigrants to Israel arrive

August 5, 2008 (JERUSALEM) — A group of Ethiopian immigrants arrived in Israel on Tuesday in what the government said marked an end to a 30-year immigration project — though there might still be some exceptions.

Israel’s Jewish Agency, the quasi-governmental body responsible for the immigration of Jews to Israel, said the early morning flight from Addis Ababa brought the final 65 Ethiopians eligible for immigration to Israel.

The immigrants arrived at Ben-Gurion airport, where they were processed and sent to absorption centers.

Israel’s Law of Return guarantees a place in the country for every Jew. Ethiopian Jews who kept their faith throughout centuries of adversity were flown to Israel by the thousands in the 1980s and early 1990s. They were followed by the Falash Mura, descendants of Jews who converted to Christianity to escape discrimination at the end of the 19th century and later returned to their roots.

There are about 120,000 Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, a country of 7 million.

The cutoff of immigration from Ethiopia has set off a bitter dispute.

The government says the vision of rescuing Jews in need and returning them to their ancient home has been abused and now threatens to flood the Jewish State with African migrants with little or no connection to Judaism. Those being left behind and their Jewish American backers say halting the immigration is arbitrary, tears apart families and reeks of racism.

Avraham Neguise, who heads the South Wing to Zion advocacy group, said some 8,700 remain in rundown camps in northern Ethiopia. He demands that the government bring them too.

Shlomo Mula, a lawmaker from the ruling Kadima party, and one of two Ethiopian immigrants in parliament, said he doubted the chapter could be closed until the status of those left in Ethiopia was determined.

“There are 8,700 more that need to be checked,” he said. “When the last one is checked and each one gets his or her answer, then we can say it is over.”

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Tuesday that remaining applicants would be examined individually and “family reunification and specific humanitarian issues” would be taken into consideration. The statement said with the completion of the immigration program, it would redirect its resources to focus on helping those in Israel improve their lives.

(AP)