Some 200 Ethiopian Israelis rallied outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem earlier, condemning the government’s foot-dragging that has prevented their relatives from immigrating to Israel from the war-torn African country.
“We demand justice for our relatives,” read signs at the protest. Others held up photographs of the relatives left behind.
Up to 14,000 people with Jewish roots are waiting in Ethiopia to come to Israel, but the government approved the airlifting of just 2,000 in January.
Members of the Ethiopian Israeli community hold up photographs of their relatives outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on November 25, 2020 (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
The government policy on the immigration of Ethiopian Jews in recent years has been rife with abandoned pledges. In 2013, the Jewish Agency declared the end of Ethiopian aliyah, prompting protests by Ethiopian lawmakers and community members in Israel. In November 2015, the government passed a decision to airlift “the last of the community” waiting in Addis Ababa and Gondar to Israel within five years.
Since that decision, however, just 2,257 Ethiopians have been brought, in dribs and drabs, according to Jewish Agency figures.
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