The Falash Mura naturally want to escape the hell-hole called Africa along with the hundreds of thousands of other Africans that try to escape the continent to Europe every year. Particularly this year, Ethiopia has seen some of the worst anti-government protests in years and some Falash Mura got killed. The Falash Mura felt they deserved a Get-out-of-jail card because Israel had allowed Ethiopians to immigrate in the past and they had Jewish ancestry.
Not only does Israel let Ethiopians immigrate but they give them an unprecedented generous immigration package including housing allowances for at least two years in an absorption center and a $105,000 grant to buy an apartment. Although Israeli stipulates that the Falash Mura convert to Judaism, that merely requires a few months of study and as soon as the Jewish status is received and the immigrant is in Israel, he can find his way to his local Ethiopian church at his leisure.
The latest 63 Ethiopians to arrive this week came due to the efforts of Likudniks Ethiopian-born MK Avraham Neguise and MK David Amsalem who even boycotted the coalition for months to restart the non-Jewish Ethiopian immigration.
Imagine bringing all the non-Jewish descendants of Jews who had converted out 100 years ago. A hundred million would qualify at least. With a 25% population of non-Jews, does Israel need more?
Knowing that blacks are on the media’s approved victimization list, Neguise pulled out the victimization card and denounced the government’s reluctance to bring the Ethiopian Jews, claiming it was due to various forms of racism:
“No other Jewish community is struggling and fighting for immigration, only the Ethiopian immigrants.” (Not because of love of Judaism or Israel but to escape their war-torn country.)
“It’s just about which immigrants are cheaper.” (The Ethiopian basket of benefits is more expensive than almost any other immigrant, not to mention the higher expenses they incur to Israeli society due to the diseases that they bring and high crime level.)
“I’m sure if these immigrants were engineers, doctors, professors, or even soccer players, they would have brought them years ago.” (No, non-Jewish engineers and doctors are not given a carte blanche to become Israelis.)
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky in fact pointed out that the Ethiopians were more privileged than anyone else: “This so-called ‘Law of Entrance’ is not for Russians or anyone else, it’s done especially for Ethiopians.”
There are approximately 9,000 Falash Mura still living in Ethiopia who could not previously come to Israel because they are not considered Jewish under the Law of Return.
But don’t worry, we can be sure after these 9,000 come, we will discover that there are a whole new subset of “Ethiopian Jews” who have been longing for Zion and Israel and are banging on the doors to come.