Ruth Eglash , THE JERUSALEM POST
Interior Ministry representatives will continue checking the eligibility for aliya of some 3,000 Ethiopian Falash Mura, who claim that under a 2003 government directive they should be allowed to immigrate to Israel, the government announced Sunday.
The decision to continue the flow of immigration from the African nation follows more than a year of high-profile protests from the local Ethiopian community and its supporters after Interior Ministry officials declared that all eligible Falash Mura – Ethiopian Jews whose ancestors converted to Christianity under duress more than a century ago – had been checked and approved for aliya.
In January, the ministry recalled its Gondar-based representative.
Despite claims that aliya from Ethiopia was all but over, local community members, representatives of North American Jewry and a growing number of MKs believe that there are still between 9,000-15,000 Falash Mura who fit the criteria. Over the past year, they have demanded the government continue checking their applications.
Sunday’s decision will allow almost a third of those to at least try proving that they fit the criteria, which includes a maternal link to Judaism and relatives already living in Israel.
In addition, the Interior Ministry will now be obliged to determine an official policy on immigration from Ethiopia.
“We welcome the government’s decision,” said a spokesman for the Public Council for Ethiopian Jews, an impromptu committee consisting of former Supreme Court president Meir Shamgar, former Supreme Court justice Menachem Elon, Prof. Irwin Kotler, Ethiopian Rabbi Yosef Adaneh, and other prominent figures, which was set up a year ago to lobby the government to continue bringing Jews from Ethiopia.
“However, there are still thousands more Jews in Ethiopia, currently living in appalling conditions, that appear on the initial Efrati list [the official registry of eligible Falash Mura that the government is now following] and should be allowed to come to Israel but who have still not been checked,” the spokesman continued.
“The committee calls on the government to uphold its 2003 commitment and to continue with the aliya until every last Falash Mura that fits the criteria has arrived in Israel.”
The debate over continuing the immigration of the remaining Falash Mura stems from a 1999 census compiled by then Interior Ministry Director-General David Efrati and Rabbi Menachem Waldman, an expert in the field of Falash Mura conversion.
According to that register, 17,500 people were eligible for aliya. Of that initial figure, 16,000 people have already arrived in Israel, while a total of over 20,000 have actually been checked by Interior Ministry officials.
However, in a previous interview with The Jerusalem Post, Waldman said that some people’s names were taken off the list and that “while it is a useful guide, the list should not override the government’s decision to allow people who can prove their Jewish matrilineal lineage to come here.”
Also, community leaders in Israel claim that the list, which was divided into three volumes – Falash Mura in Addis Ababa, Gondar and those living in the outlying villages – was partially lost, and data on people from the villages is therefore not complete.
The government’s most recent decision will see the arrival in Israel each month of 100 families, a fall from the previous quota of 300.
The Jewish Agency for Israel will continue to facilitate the aliya of those who have been approved and will aid in their absorption here following their arrival.