Two flights carrying 340 Ethiopian Jewish immigrants will land in Israel as part of a renewed effort to bring remaining community members to Israel.
The operation, which aims to bring to Israel 3,000 Ethiopians who have been waiting for years at transit camps in Gondar and Addis Ababa, will resume following a year-long break and extended struggle by Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata.
A delegation led by Yaakov Hagoel, chairman of the World Zionist Organization and head of the Jewish Agency for Israel, will leave for Ethiopia in the near future.
Hagoel said thousands of immigrants will be “privileged to realize their dreams” and reunite with their relatives in Israel, due to the resumption of the operation.
The current operation began in September 2020, and halted in March 2021. In 2021, 1,636 Ethiopian Jews immigrated to Israel.
Tamano-Shata, the first Ethiopian-born woman to serve in the Knesset, hailed the resumption of flights as a victory.
Five absorption centers have been established in preparation for the arrivals, in order to assist the new immigrants through the absorption process, including helping them learn Hebrew.
Over the decades, the Israeli government has launched several operations to bring Ethiopian Jews to the country. In 1991, Operation Solomon brought over 14,300 immigrants from Ethiopia on 35 flights in 36 hours, the largest such operation to date. Approximately 95,000 Ethiopians have been assisted by the Jewish Agency to immigrate to Israel.
