uabb domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/sites/lawfirmbackup_200125/wordpress/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131There are currently some 150,000 Jews of Ethiopian extraction living in Israel, who made aliya from Ethiopia or its surroundings. Most of the olim came to Israel covertly during the aliya of Ethiopian Jewry in Operation Moses in 1984 and Operation Solomon in 1991. Despite the great excitement surrounding their arrival to Israel and the fulfillment of their dream of coming to Zion, not all Jews managed to make aliya and many of the olim left family members, children, or partners behind. Thousands of them have been waiting for many years in camps in Addis Ababa and Gondar. They are hoping and longing for the day when they can make aliya and reunite with their family members in Israel. Even today there is an ongoing struggle to bring the Ethiopian Jews as olim to Israel by virtue of their being Jewish.<\/p>\n
Our legal offices specialize in aliya and immigration to Israel<\/a>, and we assist Ethiopian Jews in bringing their families to Israel<\/a>. In this article, attorney Joshua Pex explains the history of Ethiopian Jews\u2019 aliya and the difficulties facing them in immigrating to Israel.<\/p>\n Ethiopian Jewry is among the most ancient streams in Judaism and has been strictly preserved throughout the years. According to the accepted conjecture, the roots of Ethiopian Jewry go back to the days of King Solomon and his encounter with the Queen of Sheba. The first attempts to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel were in 1862, when the Jewish community in Habash (now Ethiopia) was stirred by a wave of Zionist sentiment.<\/p>\n Emperor Tewodros II granted the Jews permission to leave his empire, but this initial aliya met with many logistical barriers. The attempt to reach Israel on foot ended in failure, at the cost of many lives.<\/p>\n The first aliya emissaries of the Jewish Agency came to Ethiopia in the 1950s, and as early as 1955 several dozen Ethiopian youths were brought to Kfar Batya. However, the efforts to bring Beta Israel (the traditional and official name of the Jewish community in Ethiopia) stalled due to internal conflicts in Israel regarding recognition of them as Jews and whether the Law of Return applied to them.<\/p>\n In 1984 many Ethiopian Jews began leaving their villages for South Sudan with the intention of reaching Israel. After an exhausting, dangerous trek that claimed many lives, they managed to reach South Sudan. There they waited in crowded camps under terrible conditions. In order to maintain the secrecy of the operation, the Mossad set up a resort e in Sudan, which by day operated as a scubadiving site and by night transferred Jews to Israeli Navy ships to Belgium and from there to Israel. In the framework of this operation, almost 7,000 Jews were brought to Israel.<\/p>\n In 1991 there was another aliya of Jews from Addis Ababa<\/a>, in which Beta Israel was brought to Israel in an airlift. Over 36 hours, 18 Air Force military planes from Squadron 120<\/a>, as well as 23 Boeing planes from El Al and one plane from Ethiopian Airlines<\/a>, evacuated 14,310 Jews from Addis Ababa directly to Israel.<\/p>\n Even after the operations that brought Ethiopian Jews to Israel, there remained the problem of 8,000 family members\/Falash Mura who were left behind, unable to make aliya. They have been waiting for over 20 years, and their families in Israel have been exerting great pressure on their behalf.<\/p>\n In 2015 a committee was formed which reached the following decision<\/a>:<\/p>\n Aliya and naturalization of Jews of Ethiopian extraction is not to be conducted under the instructions of the Law of Return, but rather by the decision of the Israeli government on 15.11.15 to bring the remaining Ethiopian Jews to Israel.<\/p>\n Members of the communities in Ethiopia who seek to make aliya are required to meet the cumulative conditions that were set by the government and as determined by the Supreme Court ruling Verchi Bito Inshat v. the Interior Minister:<\/p>\n In this decision it was also determined that after the decision has been implemented, there will be no other organized operation to bring members of Falash Mura to Israel.<\/p>\n Family unification \u2013 The Citizenship Law allows legal status to be arranged for married partners when one of the spouses is a foreign citizen. Unfortunately, today there are quite a number of families of soldiers or spouses who are seeking to bring their relatives to Israel on aliya and are facing a multitude of difficulties.<\/p>\n Inviting friends and family members on tourist visits: In certain cases and for citizens of certain countries, entrance to Israeli territory will be allowed only after they have been invited by friends and family members who are citizens or permanent residents. An Ethiopian tourist\u2019s entrance to Israel for a visit generally requires an invitation by an Israeli. In such cases the Interior Minister is authorized to require deposit of a bank guarantee<\/a>, in order to ensure that the visitor will leave Israel before his or her visa for the visit expires.<\/p>\n Protocol for a lone elderly parent: A protocol that grants Israeli legal status to an elderly parent of an Israeli citizen if the parent is alone<\/a>. It is intended to provide a humane solution to a problematic family situation in which the Israeli citizen lives in Israel and wants to take care of an elderly mother or father but the parent is a foreign citizen who is not eligible under the Law of Return and therefore lives alone outside of Israel. The protocol is intended for a parent who does not have other children abroad, and applies to an Israeli citizen\u2019s father who is over 64 and mother over 62.<\/p>\n Granting legal status to parents of lone soldiers: Lone soldiers in the IDF are given the option to bring their parents to Israel<\/a> and to receive the status of permanent residents. If a soldier\u2019s parents are in Israel without legal status, they have the option to receive a residency visa thanks to this protocol. Afterwards, they can convert their permanent residency to citizenship, without reference to their being parents of someone serving in the IDF.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nAliya of Ethiopian Jews \u2013 history<\/h4>\n
Aliya of Habash Jewry after the founding of the State of Israel<\/h4>\n
Operation Moshe<\/h4>\n
Operation Solomon<\/h4>\n
Thousands of family members of Ethiopian olim were left behind<\/h4>\n
Aliya and immigration of Ethiopian Jews<\/h4>\n
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Legal problems of the Ethiopian Jewish community in immigrating to Israel<\/h4>\n
A sample story<\/h4>\n