Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent: Groups appeal state bid to wrap up mass Ethiopian immigration
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Title: Ethiopian Jewish rabbis say that the Falashmura are not Jewish Name: M City: State:
From http://tinyurl.com/3xtaqp "Most of the Ethiopians waiting in Addis Ababa hoping to come to Israel are not even Jewish," senior Ethiopian kessim (rabbis) told Absorption Minister Tzipi Livni yesterday. . . . "Why don`t you just tell the truth?" the kessim told Livni. The kessim said that many of the Falashmura - descendants of Jews who were cut off from the larger Ethiopian Jewish community because of war or famine - never had a connection to Judaism and were just "hitchhikers" trying to get out of Ethiopia. Kess Avihu Azariya said that he knows of cases of Ethiopians in Israel who waited for reunification with their families and when they arrived, they were strangers, Haaretz reported.