Israel's High Court of Justice decided on Tuesday to remove an interim order which had halted the immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel since February.
Last November, the cabinet unanimously approved paving the way for renewing immigration from Ethiopia from among the community of descendants of Jews, against the background of a severe civil war in the country.
The resolution passed in November would allow 3,000 Ethiopians to immigrate, with the possibility to expand the number with further resolutions.
In February, the High Court issued an interim order freezing the aliyah of Ethiopian Jews after a petition was filed by the Israeli Immigration Policy Center against the government decision. The Israeli Immigration Policy Center expressed opposition to the decision in December when it filed the petition to the High Court, saying it would bring non-Jewish Ethiopians to Israel.
Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata thanked the High Court for dropping the freeze order the for petition, saying the petition "cost human lives."
"Those waiting in Ethiopia have suffered more than enough, I will continue to fight for them and today is a particularly happy day that I can act to bring them to Israel immediately," said Tamano-Shata. "All of Israel are brothers. As I promised, I will be everyone's minister, I will fight for the immigration of Ukrainian Jews alongside the immigration from Ethiopia and from all the Jews in the Diaspora who want to immigrate to Israel."