Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A member of the IDF's Golani Brigade embraces a relative airlifted from Ethiopia to Israel during Operation
Solomon, 1991. (Getty Images / Image Bank.)
Immigration continued thereafter at a slow but steady pace. There was a further problem,
however. A group known as the Falash Mura had been converted to Christianity, reportedly
under duress. It had not been included in the earlier operations. Some Ethiopian immigrants,
who had relatives among them, lobbied for their inclusion, while others opposed it. In 1996,
the chief rabbis expressed their view that the Falash Mura were Christians who preferred to
remain so. With typical Israeli fl exibility, though, about 10,000 were eventually brought to
Israel anyway.
By 2009, about 85,000 Jews of Ethiopian origin were residing in Israel. About 25,000, or
30 percent, had been born in the country. As the immigrants arrived, they were placed in ab-
sorption centers because of their unfamiliarity with modern society; Russian newcomers, in
contrast, were sent directly to permanent housing. The centers made it easier to provide such
necessary services as Hebrew classes, health care, job training, and general instructions on
living in Israeli society. On the other hand, the absorption centers tended to isolate the recent
immigrants from the rest of society and could create long-term dependency on the govern-
ment. The government eventually created a special mortgage program to help immigrants in
poorer towns buy permanent housing.
Like the Russian immigrants, the fi rst generation of newcomers from Ethiopia tended to
stick together, to speak their own language (Amharic) among themselves, and to create orga-
nizations to help immigrants acclimatize. In the usual pattern, those who arrived as children
or who were born in Israel have been able to integrate far better than their parents. But about
