Israel Is Failing Its Commitment to Ethiopian Jews

Last month, the State of Israel took the courageous step of announcing, with great fanfare, that they would be bringing in all the remaining B’nai Menashe from India. Jerusalem also ruled that it would not bring in Jews from Ethiopia because there are “no eligible individuals.”

After October 7, many people believed that the divides in Israel had melted: secular and religious, right and left, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, veteran Israelis and new immigrants.

But one divide did not melt — the plight of the segment of Jews who are still stuck in Ethiopia.

Few cases expose this inconsistency more vividly than the contrast between two immigrant groups Israel is dealing with right now: the B’nai Menashe of Northeast India and the Ethiopian Jewish families still waiting in Addis Ababa and Gondar.

Both communities have claims that they are part of the Jewish people.

But only one is being brought.

In November 2023, in the middle of the war, Israel heroically brought more than 250 B’nai Menashe immigrants — from a community that has sent hundreds each year (218 in 2021, 274 in 2020, and many more in previous years). They arrive under the Law of Entry, undergo conversion afterward, and settle in supportive communities.

The Ethiopian Jewish community has centuries of documented Jewish lineage. Some groups (and parts of the Israeli government) contest that many of the Jews remaining in Ethiopia are not halachically Jewish, but these claims are greatly disputed.

Tragically, Israel is turning its back on the remaining 14,000 Jews in Ethiopia. Many, if not most, are first-degree relatives of the 175,000 Ethiopian Israelis already living in the country — parents, siblings, children, and spouses.

Since October 7, 2023, 40 Ethiopian-Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza and on the northern front. Representing just 1.7% of Israel, they account for over 4% of the deaths in the IDF. Many fallen soldiers left behind siblings or parents whom Israel has refused to bring.

“My son died defending Israel, but his sister is still stuck in Gondar. How is that justice?” one grieving mother told Yediot Ahronot this winter.

Israel has no convincing answer, a halachic inconsistency Israel refuses to acknowledge.

There is a second truth that makes the state’s inconsistency impossible to defend.

Virtually all Ethiopian immigrants undergo rabbinic giyur when they arrive in Israel. But those maternally linked do so, according to the Chief Rabbinate, out of extreme caution — not because their Jewish identity is unknown.

The Beta Israel have centuries of documented maternal-line Jewish descent, recognized by:

• Rav Ovadia Yosef and the Chief Rabbinate (1973)
• The Radbaz in the 16th century
• Rabbinic delegations from the 19th and 20th centuries
• Every serious historical study of Beta Israel origins

Indeed, many thousands of Ethiopian families today can show direct maternal Jewish lineage — the halachically determinative line.

The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rav Shlomo Amar, wrote that Jews in Ethiopia “are completely Jewish without any doubt.” According to the Chief Rabbi, any confirmatory immersion in a mikvah, ritual bath, was a stringency to remove all doubt, not a requirement.

The B’nai Menashe also received religious recognition by Israel from Rav Amar. However, in contrast to the Jews from Ethiopia, Rav Amar ruled that they are the “Seed of Israel” requiring a conversion to immigrate. Although their connection is real, sincere, and important, every B’nai Menashe immigrant undergoes full conversion, not confirmatory immersion.

And yet, while Israel rightfully and courageously brings thousands of B’nai Menashe with ease, it blocks thousands of Ethiopians whose lineage many believe to be stronger, older, and halachically grounded.

In 2022, the Israeli cabinet passed Government Decision 716, which obligated the state to:

1. Bring 3,000 Ethiopian Jews, a quota imposed because of short term budgetary considerations, not because of the number of remaining Jews in Ethiopia.

2. Complete the process within two years,

3. Reconvene afterward to decide on the next stage and bring in all others eligible.

While the State brought the initial 3,000, it never reconvened and never made the legally required follow-up decision. Thousands of Jews’ cases were never fully reviewed.

Instead, the Interior Ministry announced that the issue required “further examination” — as if decades of verifications, committees, and unanimous cabinet votes had not already taken place.

It is my understanding that the burdens Israel places on Ethiopian Jews are not applied to other groups. The government’s own Harel Committee confirmed in 2023 that Israel’s Ethiopian-aliyah criteria were “inconsistent and incoherent,” that family separations were “often unjustified,” and that Interior Ministry demographic concerns were “based on flawed assumptions.”

Yet not a single recommendation has been implemented.

One Ethiopian father whose son fell in Gaza told Kan News: “Israel trusted my son with a rifle. It will not trust me with a plane ticket.”

If Israel wants strict standards, apply them uniformly. If Israel wants broader inclusion, include also those with stronger claims.

What cannot be defended is a two-tier system of Jewish belonging. October 7 taught Israel who its defenders are. Ethiopian Israelis fought in every front-line brigade and paid a devastating price. Their families deserve the same commitment they have shown to the State of Israel.

The demand is simple and just: One standard. One policy. One people.

Gail Propp is a board member or officer of numerous boards. She has advocated on behalf of the Jews in Ethiopia for over 20 years.