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Who should help them? By Anshel Pfeffer Tags: Jewish World, Falashmura  In the early hours of August 5 this year, as day was breaking, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Sixty-one Ethiopians disembarked and were taken to the old terminal building, where they were processed in a small facility operated by the Absorption Ministry. Each was given a temporary ID card with a gray cover, and the head of each household received a small amount of cash to meet initial needs in the new country. Afterwards, they collected all their worldly belongings and were taken by taxi to absorption centers around the country, for their first year of life in Israel, during which they will undergo conversion and qualify for full citizenship. This was the last plane of Falashmura - descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity - to be allowed in by the government. Since then, the gates have remained firmly shut and an international battle has been raging to reopen them and allow thousands more in. There had been signs of official wavering in recent months, but now that elections are underway, no decision will be taken for at least four more months. As the delegates representing the Jewish communities of North America convene this week in Jerusalem for the UJC General Assembly, the Falashmura will not officially be on the agenda. Instead there will be a session on how to empower the Ethiopian community already living in Israel. Advertisement This is in line with the outgoing government's policy to end Falashmura emigration, and instead focus all resources on improving the integration of Ethiopians already living here. But many of the delegates are opposed to that policy. Some of them were present at a Jewish Agency Board of Governors meeting last year, when Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit caused a stir by attacking the American Jewish organizations trying to pressure Israel to allow more Falashmura in. "If they want them so much," he said, "let them take them to live in the U.S." The government was by that time close to implementing its 2005 decision to end the Falashmura immigration after it reached a final quota of 4,600 additional immigrants. But government and Jewish Agency officials were talking ominously of external pressure from North American Jewish federations and other organizations that aimed to keep the pipeline open. In mid-July, a group of American visitors arrived in the Falashmura compound in Gondar in northern Ethiopia. According to some of those present, at least one of them exhorted the thousands there not to return to their villages and to remain in the compound, despite Israel deciding to halt the immigration. He promised them that if they would continue praying, they would ultimately reach Jerusalem. Some 26,000 Falashmura have officially entered Israel so far (thousands more came unobtrusively among the earlier waves of immigration from Ethiopia). In 2003, the government decided to allow the Falashmura in - if they met the set criteria of being of Jewish ancestry, agreed to undergo conversion upon arrival and had relatives already living in the country. But another government decision in 2005 capped the number of those allowed in, and this August the quota was finally reached. The pro-Falashmura lobby claims that another 8,700 are eligible. Two months ago, it seemed that the Falashmura's prayers had been answered, at least with limited results. The government agreed to examine the cases of some 3,000 Falashmura who were included in a 1999 survey yet reportedly did not have a chance to apply for emigration. It is still unclear, however, when this new procedure is to begin, as it is currently under review by a special government committee. In July, the Knesset passed a motion urging the government to allow the remnants of Ethiopian Jewry into Israel, but this was only a non-binding resolution in its first reading. The Falashmura are going to have to wait at least three more months, until after the February 2009 elections, for a more definite answer. The pressure on the government to come up with concessions stems from several directions, including the Ethiopian community in Israel - though not all of it since a significant portion of the community in Israel see the Falashmura as renegades, and are against allowing them in. Political pressure is being brought by Shas, whose rabbis have ruled that the Falashmura are Jews, and many other Knesset members from various parties have joined the pro-Falashmura parliamentary caucus. The third source of pressure is from outside Israel, brought by Jewish organizations and individuals, mainly in North America, who are urging the government to continue allowing the Falashmura in. The most overt pressure is being brought by the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ), a lobby group. But many leaders in the major Jewish federations also support the demand. Other significant supporters are legal stars Alan Dershowitz and Irwin Cotler, who are members of the public committee advocating on behalf of the Falashmura. All are convinced that the current government decisions are far from being the last word. But is lobbying of the Israeli government by North American citizens legitimate in this case? "No-one is trying to impose anything on the Israeli government," says Nahman Shai, who heads the UJC Israel office. "It wasn't American Jewry who decided to bring the Falashmura, it was the [Israeli] government. American Jews are very careful on this issue; they are simply asking the government to abide by its original decisions in 2003 to recognize the Falashmura and bring them to Israel," he says. Shai says the issue has been raised in meetings between American Jewish leaders and outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "The issue of Ethiopian Jewry is very emotional for some of them, but they are only acting within the decisions of the government. They will not oppose a clear government policy. They are only supporting, both morally and financially, policy already decided upon." Most government officials prefer not to talk about the issue on record, so as not to anger both American Jewry and the local Ethiopian constituency. The official position of the Jewish Agency - which carried out the entire process of preparing, transporting and absorbing the Ethiopians in Israel - is that it follows the government's policy. Off record, views within the Agency diverge - there are those who believe that the Falashmura are not really Jewish and that bringing them simply drains scarce resources. Others are interested in continuing the emigration since it boosts the Agency's dwindling aliyah operation. Even Ethiopians already in Israel don't all speak with the same voice. A prominent Ethiopian leader in Israel, Kadima MK Shlomo Molla, holds the opposite view. "Any decision has to be internal, the government has to insist that organizations like NACOEJ butt out. They are Americans and with all due respect, they won't decide for Israel who it should accept," he says. Molla has no problem with the donors from outside Israel footing a large part of the bill for aliyah and absorption. "If they want to donate, they should do that with a good heart and gladly, but we don't need them, they need us more. I regret to say though that the Israeli government has made most of the mistakes - we should have just examined all the cases, all 8,700 who remain in Gondar, and insisted that the foreign organizations stay out." By contrast, Avraham Ngosa, who heads South Wing to Zion, an Israeli organization promoting the immigration of Ethiopians of Jewish descent, especially the Falashmura, said the support of Diaspora Jews was essential. "Of course they should become involved," he says. "I don't expect them to decide for Israel who is eligible and who is not - that is the state's role - but they should be showing solidarity for a community in distress. American Jewry acted before not only on behalf of the Ethiopian community, but also for Jews in the Soviet Union, Syria and Yemen. If they hadn't been so intensively involved in the Ethiopian issue, the government wouldn't have made many of its past decisions to allow any Ethiopian Jews into Israel at all." The now-defunct American Association for Ethiopian Jews is widely credited with persuading thousands of Ethiopian Jews to converge on Addis Ababa at the height of the civil war in 1991, forcing Israel to launch Operation Solomon in which 14,310 were airlifted to Israel in 35 hours. The most strident view in favor of foreign involvement can be heard by the Falashmura's supporters in Israel. Rabbi Menahem Waldman, who was one of the pioneers of the Ethiopians' spiritual absorption in Israel and heads a conversion academy, says that "this is not just an Israeli issue but an issue of the entire Jewish people. World Jewry has an obligation to the Ethiopian Jews, just as it had to Soviet Jewry or any other community in distress. The moment the Chief Rabbinate recognized them as Jews, as did the Reform and Conservative movements, it has nothing to do with any government department - it is our Jewish obligation to help them survive as a community and fulfill the central mitzvah of coming to Israel. Any involvement is legitimate, even if the Israeli government because of intransigence, racism, economic considerations or just mistaken policy, has decided not to act as a Jewish government. Every Jew has to act to save these souls. It doesn't matter at all whether the pressure is coming from within Israel or without." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Trailblazer Haula Abu-Bakar named first Arab female professor in Israel. Hills of hostility A stranger coming to Hebron Saturday would be confused.

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