Israel Accused of Discrimination After Ending Ethiopian Immigration
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Ben Lynfield, Telegraph (London), August 5, 2008
Israel has ended a three-decade-old policy of immigration from Ethiopia, saying it wants to devote resources instead to integrating Ethiopian Jews already in the country.
The move evoked a furious reaction from leaders of the 120,000-strong Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel, who said the “discrimination” and “prejudice” of the Israeli government would strand thousands of people in Africa and thwart family reunifications.
Government spokesman Mark Regev said the step “will enable us to focus more effectively and invest resources on the successful integration of Ethiopian immigrants”.
He added that the government was abiding by a cabinet decision in 2003 to bring to Israel a total of 17,000 Ethiopians, known as falash mura, who are descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity but who consider themselves Jewish.
In accordance with the quota, the falash mura have been flown to Israel at a rate of about three hundred a month since 2003, with the last group of 61 of them arriving yesterday.
Israel mounted major operations—codenamed Moses and Solomon—to bring thousands of Ethiopian Jews to the country in 1984 and 1991, depicting the immigration as fulfilment of the biblical prophecy of a gathering of Jewish exiles to Zion.
But the Ethiopian community of about 120,000 immigrants and their descendants is the poorest sector of the Israeli Jewish population and is beset by unemployment and school drop-out rates, although there have also been success stories.
In an affirmative action to make up for their impoverished background the government has underwritten their mortgages.
Ethiopian Jewish groups in Israel say there are still about 8,000 falash mura in Gondar, Ethiopia, seeking to move to Israel.
“It is inconceivable that the descendants of Jews and Jews, who need to emigrate, should have the door shut on them,” said Danny Kasahon, director of a coalition of Ethiopian lobbying groups. “There are many families here who have parents or children in Ethiopia waiting to come to Israel.”
“This is discrimination. It cannot be defined by any other word. It could be based on prejudice,” Mr. Kasahon added.
Mr Regev denied the charge and said there could still be family reunifications “on a case by case basis”, but added that “collective mass immigration is behind us.”
(Posted on August 6, 2008)
Comments
Immigration is a privilege, not a right. Taking away privileges is NOT “discrimination”. This is the “rights” illusion at work here. An excellent description of this is to be found in the book THE TROUBLE WITH CANADA.
Posted by at 5:29 PM on August 6
What a very diplomatic way of saying they’ve reconsidered the program.
Religion is only a construct of the mind. What counts is genetics.
The Christian church, which once represented the culture of Caucasian Europeans, has opened its doors to people from the four corners of the earth. In doing so, it has become a conduit for non-whites to gain entry to white, Western civilization, and diluted its status as care-taker of European values.
Posted by at 6:28 PM on August 6
i as a jew celebrate this development, now i wish Jewish organizations and other white dominated ones would have a patriotic platform on immigration like Jared Taylor
Posted by at 10:08 PM on August 6
“Family reunification” … the death knell of the once proud West.
Posted by at 10:39 PM on August 6
If anyone actually believes these blacks are Jews instead of Muslims, I have a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.
Posted by Skip at 10:14 AM on August 7
One again, and as always, it’s “Do as I say, not as I do” when it comes to America’s Greatest Ally and its supporters, who never miss an opportunity to promote multiracialism here in the U.S.
Posted by at 5:54 PM on August 7
Just exactly how much dilution of jewish genes through miscegenation has to happen before the person is no longer considered jewish?
Posted by at 10:14 PM on August 9