Moving to Israel

For the first time since the British rule, Aliyah to Israel will be stopped. In an obviously cruel and racist manner the Israeli government will stop all Aliyah of the Falashmura from Ethiopia. In a decision made by the Jewish Agency, a quasi official government entity, all agency representatives will return to Israel, bringing to close a five year streak which saw over 16,000 Falashmura make the move to Israel.

If our readers will recall a previous blog post, the Israeli government had declared war on the Aliyah of Jews who are not wealthy. Apparently, a new front to this war has been opened as Falashmura Olim from Ethiopia can hardly be considered wealthy and therefore not of interest to Israeli government officials. Although Ethiopians are an honor and credit to Israeli society, they are usually only found working menial jobs for the Israeli economy and it is possible that their manpower is no longer needed or that quotas have been met.

Unfortunately for the rest of Israel’s citizens, this represents a further moral deterioration of Israeli government leaders. Further, if Israel was truly a democratic state then, at a minimum, citizens should be called upon to vote over the issue.   

      

There’s a great and pressing article from Thursdays jpost.com by Ruth Eglash about Alexander Mulugeta, 26, a young Ethiopian student, who has spent the past year at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and is set to be deported within the next two weeks. The article goes on to touch upon the more-delicate-than-ever issue of the Law of Return and an idividual and family’s eligibility.

Mulugeta, who is studying Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at IDC’s International School, said that since family members moved to Israel more than 10 years ago they should be allowed to immigrate under the Law of Return, which allows any person with at least one Jewish grandparent to move here.

The challenges faced by Mulugeta described by Eglash in the article, along with some of the comments by her readers, makes it clear that the bureaucratic squabble and finger pointing regarding moving to Israel and Aliyah are, unfortunately, as alive as ever. With the life and death situations that present itself to Israel daily this is truly the last thing the public wants to hear about. Let everyone who is legally eligible for the Right of Return come to the country with the fewest obstacles possible and let’s get back to defending our lives from the true enemies.

 Ari