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December 4, 2020
On December 3, 316 Jews from Ethiopia arrived at Ben Gurion Airport as part of Israel’s Operation Rock (Tzur Israel). A hundred more immigrants are expected to arrive on December 4. In all, the government has pledged to bring 2,000 community members to Israel, after many years of waiting in transitional camps in Addis Ababa and Gondar in Ethiopia.
The first to get off the plane was a religious leader of the community, blowing a ram’s horn, as in Jewish tradition in times of redemption. Many of the immigrants waved Israeli flags. Some of the passengers kissed the ground upon arrival, also a tradition when they first arrived in the Holy Land.
The new arrivals were met at the airport by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog and other senior government officials. For many, these festive sights were reminiscent of the great waves of Ethiopian immigrants who arrived in Israel in the 1980s and 1990s.
“I don’t remember being so moved by such a distilled vision of Zionism that shows all of our qualities. Olim’s sight [immigrants] Getting off the plane carrying baskets as a memory of my childhood – touching the ground of the Land of Israel, a mother kissing the ground – this is the essence of Jewish and Zionist history and that is why, our brothers and sisters, we are excited to welcome you here. Welcome to the State of Israel. … The Ethiopian community is returning home, step by step, “Netanyahu said. He then tweeted:”Brothers and Sisters of our own, immigrants from Ethiopia, we are very excited to welcome you here. Welcome to Israel! ”
Speaking on the track, Netanyahu also pledged to continue his efforts to bring back home Israeli-Ethiopian Avera Avraham Mengistu, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since 2015. Mengistu suffers from mental health problems.
The Minister of Absorption and Immigration, Pnina Tamano-Shata, arrived in Ethiopia last week to prepare the operation and accompanied the migrants on the flight. She came to Israel from Ethiopia as a child with Operation Moses in 1984, which brought more than 6,000 Ethiopian Jews to the country through Sudan.
Gantz called Tamano-Shata a few hours before leaving the Addis Ababa airport to express his support for the operation. tweeting, “Politics must be put aside. Tomorrow Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata will return to Israel with hundreds of immigrants from Ethiopia. After years of delay they will be able to unite with their children, brothers and sisters, whom they did not see for years. At last they were able to join – this time in Israel. I am very touched by this. It is a great pride. Pnina – I am very proud of you. Well done! ”
On the track, Gantz recalled that, as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, he had participated in the army’s covert Operation Solomon in 1991 to bring 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Another operation in 2013 brought 7,000 immigrants from Ethiopia.
Israeli-Ethiopian activists have protested relentlessly in recent years, demanding that the government stop delaying implementing a 2015 decision to bring all remaining Ethiopians of Jewish lineage to Israel within five years. According to activists’ assessments, between 7,000 and 12,000 Ethiopian Jews remain in Ethiopia, some of whom have been waiting for years to be reunited with their families. Activists are increasingly concerned about the fate of people in the transitional camps, as Ethiopia faces an insurgency of insecurity and poverty. Over the years, some ultra-Orthodox leaders cast doubt on the Judaism of immigrants. Netanyahu promised before the last election to bring them home as part of a family unification operation.
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