Netanyahu says 1,000 more Falash Mura to be allowed to immigrate to Israel
The Falash Mura do not have the right to citizenship under the Law of Return since their ancestors converted under duress to Christianity, and are instead granted citizenship under the Law of Entry.
By JEREMY SHARONUpdated: SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 18:26Members of the Falash Mura community attend a prayer service at the Hatikva Synagogue in Gondar, northern Ethiopia, in 2016(photo credit: TIKSA NEGERI / REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that he has decided to bring another 1,000 members of the Falash Mura community still living in Ethiopia to Israel and has ordered Interior Minister Aryeh Deri to draft a government resolution to implement this decision.Netanyahu’s decision in a meeting of a special ministerial committee comes in response to a strident campaign to allow all remaining members of the community, some 8,000 people, to immigrate to Israel and several years of delays in dealing with the matter.The prime minister said he made the decision after consulting with the leading MKs campaigning for the Falash Mura, MKs Avraham Neguise and David Amsalem from his own Likud party.“I am happy to announce to you that I have decided that we should bring approximately 1,000 members of the [Falash Mura] community whose children are already here,” Netanyahu said, referring to them as “a beloved community which is part of our people and part of our state.”“This is not a simple decision due to other consequences we have of the community from Ethiopia, but I am determined to do this,” he continued, noting that his government brought 1,300 members of the community to Israel in 2015.The prime minister said that he has requested Deri, who did not attend the committee meeting, to draw up a government resolution to authorize the immigration, meaning that it will require approval in a cabinet vote.The Falash Mura do not have the right to citizenship under the Law of Return since their ancestors converted under duress to Christianity, and are instead granted citizenship under the Law of Entry on the consideration of the Interior Minister and family reunification principles.There are approximately 8,200 people in the Ethiopian cities of Addis Ababa and Gondar who are seeking to immigrate to Israel on the basis of family reunification and of being “descendants of Jews.”Approximately three quarters have parents, children or siblings in Israel and all, according to activists, live as Jews in Addis and Gondar, and are ready to convert once they reach Israel.
