Hundreds of Ethiopian immigrants from the Falash Mura community on Thursday arrived to a festive ceremony at Israel’s international airport, as the government took a step toward carrying out its pledge to reunite hundreds of families split between the two countries in Operation Tzur Yisrael.

Some 300 people landed on the Ethiopian Airlines flight, with many waving flags or stopping to kiss the ground as they streamed off the aircraft onto a red carpet. Many were dressed in traditional Ethiopian robes, and many women held babies in their arms. Festive Hebrew songs were blasted over loudspeakers.

Although the families are of Jewish descent and many are practicing Jews, Israel does not consider them Jewish under religious law. Instead, they were permitted to enter the country under a family-unification program that requires special government approval. About 100 more members of the Falash Mura community are scheduled to arrive on Friday.

A large delegation of Israeli officials welcomed the group, and Pnina Tamano-Shata, the country’s first Ethiopian-born Cabinet minister, traveled to Ethiopia to join them on the flight.

ראש הממשלה נתניהו ורעייתו הגב' שרה נתניהו השתתפו בטקס קבלת פנים בנתב"ג לקבוצת העולים הראשונה מאתיופיה במסגרת מבצע "צור ישראל".

"אחינו ואחיותינו היקרים, עולי אתיופיה, אנחנו כל כך נרגשים לקבל אתכם כאן, ברוכים הבאים לארץ ישראל, ברוכים הבאים למדינת ישראל."https://t.co/fYtHvCAfRA pic.twitter.com/X0hwHwfF3p

— ראש ממשלת ישראל (@IsraeliPM_heb) December 3, 2020

“My wife Sara and myself were standing there with tears in our eyes,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a welcoming ceremony. “This is the essence of our Jewish story, the essence of the Zionist story.”

Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz was also present at the ceremony together with the prime minister, hours after he and Netanyahu exchanged insults and accusations following Gantz’s vote on Wednesday to disperse the Knesset, paving the path for fourth elections.

מאות עולים מאתיופיה נחתנו עכשיו בארץ. אחינו ואחיותינו, ברוכים הבאים לירושלים, ברוכים הבאים הביתה! pic.twitter.com/1yv5PRddaz

— בני גנץ – Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) December 3, 2020

Community activists have accused the government of dragging its feet in implementing a 2015 decision to bring all remaining Ethiopians of Jewish lineage to Israel within five years. Netanyahu’s Likud party repeated that pledge before national elections early this year.

The Struggle for Ethiopian Aliyah, an activist group promoting family unification, estimates some 7,000 Ethiopian Jews remain behind in Ethiopia who fall within the immigration conditions of the  2015 Israeli government resolution 716.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)