The Ministry of Absorption and the Interior, Pnina Temano-Sheta and Ayelet Shaked, together with senior officials in their offices and representatives of the National Security Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will hold a crucial discussion tomorrow (Tuesday) on whether and when to raise about 5,000 aliyah seekers in Ethiopia.
Shaked and Tamano-Sheta held their first meeting on the subject today, in which they discussed the implementation of the coalition agreement, in which it was agreed to bring 3,000 people waiting in the camps.
Minister Tamano-Sheta, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon - Archive
Against the background of the dire situation there, Tamno-Shta demands that the balance of those waiting be increased in a quick operation.
In closed conversations, the Minister of Absorption says that despite the briefings "on behalf of" her, in her language, she "will not break down, and will insist on bringing them to Israel."
She also rejects the allegations that she changed her position regarding the rest of Israel in Ethiopia, noting that as early as 2015, Knesset members signed the demand to bring those waiting to Israel.
Sources familiar with the details of bringing the 60 Ethiopians stranded in Sudan to Israel, about whom it was reported yesterday in the Haaretz newspaper that most of them are not Jews and that they piled on the Israeli authorities, insist that most of them are Jews or of Israeli descent.
"Israel Today" has learned that one of the women in the group is the mother of three combat soldiers, including a security guard of Minister Ayelet Shaked.
The Shaked bureau confirmed the details.
Minister Ayelet Shaked, Photo: Gideon Markovich
The operation, with the participation of the Mossad, took place a few months ago, close to the change of government.
Several rabbis turned to Teman-Sheta and asked to be rescued urgently on the grounds that they were in danger.
The Minister of Absorption turned to a representative of the Mossad and also to the Ministry of the Interior to check the identity of those seeking to immigrate, and whether they were indeed from the seed of Israel.
These are Tiger Ethiopians, who constitute a small minority of the Jewish community in Ethiopia, and even among the rabbis of the community only a few know their genealogies.
Rabbis from the community also insist that most of the immigrants in the group are indeed from the seed of Israel.
A source close to the details told "Israel Today" that Temno-Sheta herself sifted 15 people from the first list, since she was not convinced that they were from the seed of Israel.