For decades, thousands of Jews have been waiting in aliyah camps for Israel. • The corona only worsened their situation: "They took our house"
"Want to immigrate to Israel"
One of the anomalies among the Israeli communities in the Diaspora is the remnant of Ethiopian Jews.
If it were up to her, the community would happily "give up" on the characteristics of the inner resilience that make it necessary - and immigrate to Israel.
Meanwhile, the duration of the ephemerality became permanent and in the shadow of the corona the sense of urgency for it increased even more.
This drains into one request - "Let us go up soon".
More than 7,500 remnants of Ethiopian Jews are awaiting immigration in the Gondar and Addis Ababa camps, including those who have lived there for more than two decades.
In 2015, the Israeli government made a government decision to raise all those awaiting their first-degree relatives in Israel by the end of 2020, but this has not been done and the question of recognizing them has not yet been decided.
In September, the government approved a government decision and an allocation led by the Minister of Immigration and Absorption of NIS 370 million for the purpose of bringing 2,000 Jews from Ethiopia to Israel, 436 of whom immigrated in early December.
"Many of the campers have long since left their villages and live around these communities with a constant sense of alienation," describes Aliyah and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano Sheta, who immigrated herself in "Operation Moshe" as a toddler at age 3, from Ethiopia with her father and five brothers to Israel.
She recently visited camps in Ethiopia in preparation for the immigration of hundreds of them in early December in Operation "Create Israel" which she is leading.
"I came back from there heartbroken in view of their difficult situation, the long years they are separated from their families in Israel and especially in view of the corona which further aggravates the ability of families in Israel to send them money simply to survive."
In addition to the constant difficulties, other problems were added this year, including the dramatic impact of rising food prices (relative to the already poorer community and less access to food), as well as tensions that turned into a military operation between the Ethiopian army and rebels in Tigray province that led to communication problems.
A particularly charged issue is the separation of families.
While there are those who have been recognized as Jews and immigrated in the past, some of their first-degree relatives have not yet received a certificate of eligibility.
The effect of splitting the families plus the damage to the community character with the advent of the corona gave its signals already in March with the restriction of prayers in the synagogue ("Tikvat Zion"), which has returned to partial activity and is still limited in its activity to this moment.
The cantor of the synagogue in Addis Ababa, Beya Tesfa, sadly describes the depth of the rift that intensified with the closure of the synagogue.
Meaning - it is no longer possible to pray together as a community or study together in a community that still feels cheated and promiscuous in the face of its current situation.
"Think what it feels like to lose a home. The synagogue for us is a home, a place for prayer and meeting. We are a community with many difficulties, also in terms of longing for family and loneliness, the difficulties with non-Jewish neighbors, the frustration that the State of Israel has abandoned us and not kept its promises to us. We feel that Israel has abandoned us. Even in Ethiopia they do not want us because we are Jews. Even in Israel they do not want us because the Ethiopian will never be Jewish enough for the State of Israel. We feel that we no longer belong in this difficult period. Almost our whole family lives in Israel "Far from the family and Israel. We don't even have that now."
Kasau Shifrau, an aliyah activist who grew up in the community with Beya and immigrated to Israel in 2004, adds: "We have received many promises from the prime minister to work to immigrate all remaining Ethiopian Jews by the end of 2020. The Israeli government should implement the decisions "It is not possible for a Jewish community to be in real danger, and the State of Israel is delaying their immigration."
Minister Tamano is confident that he can lead to a positive end to the never-ending saga.
"Despite the great suffering, there can still be a happy ending here. Not subsidizing money for basic food should guide us despite my estimate ($ 50,000 was donated by the Jewish Agency to a feed factory in Gondar) but an overall look - so I push for an immediate increase in waiters.
We need to end with this saga. "
"We have an obligation to carry out an outline within two to three years in which all these complexes will be closed and those who are waiting will be urgently raised. Rejection of a wider schedule will complicate the problem and become a historic mistake that does not benefit the State of Israel." ".
On the matter of partiality the principled recognition of them as Jews by the state said.
"I have no interest in bringing anyone who is not a Jew here or who is not directly connected to Ethiopian Jews, it is not just a one-off family reunion. In an overall look at Diaspora Jews in general, the test here is Israel's attitude toward Diaspora Jews who helped us a lot in the young nation. "It is very simple: not to leave or abandon any Jew or seed of Israel in a deprived world. In the context of the community in Ethiopia, this is a disaster that the state can still prevent - the community must rise and move and then face the challenges here in Israel that are not so simple for them."