Amid reports in Israel that dozens of Ethiopians brought to Israel recently in a secret operation lied about their Jewish ancestry, Ethiopian Prime Minister Aiby Ahmed
accused Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of bringing war criminals into Israel

Ahmed had a tense conversation with Bennett on Monday, telling him that at least four Ethiopians in a group that was recently brought to Israel were officers that have been implicated in war crimes, Channel 13 News reported on Monday.

At least one of the officers was involved in a massacre in the war-torn Tigray region.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reports said that about 70 “Jewish” Ethiopians secretly brought to Israel in recent months from war-torn Tigray are actually almost all non-Jews who not only lied about their ancestry but also overplayed the level of risk they were facing.

The NIS 14 million operation, which brought in 70 non-Jewish Ethiopians to Israel, was apparently launched at the request of an Ethiopian Israeli who listed his Christian ex-wife,  non-Jewish children, others who claim to be his children, and non-Jewish business acquaintances, in what the investigative report called a “planned conspiracy that exploited the system.”

Over 2,000 Ethiopian Jews have been brought to Israel since the insurgency in Tigray began last year but this group was the only one that wasn’t part of an established Jewish community but claimed they had Jewish roots.

Meanwhile, there are about 10,000 members of the Falash Mura community still in Ethiopia and their Israeli relatives are pressuring the government to take immediate action to bring them to Israel.

However, a classified National Security Council report, which was recently revealed by Channel 12 News, raises doubts about the Jewish identity of members of the Falash Mura community and discounts their claim that they are in imminent danger. The report warns that bringing thousands of Ethiopians to Israel will damage relations with Ethiopian authorities as well as pose the risk of the entry of numerous non-Jews into Israel.

The report states that there is an “exaggeration of the reality in order to create pressure on senior government echelons. Bringing thousands of people to Israel without clarification of their Jewish status is a precedent-setting and dangerous demographic mistake,” and “there is a threat of a flow of non-Jews who want to take advantage of Israel’s economy.”

Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, who is Ethiopian, has threatened to quit and cause a coalition crisis due to the government’s lack of action in rescuing the remainder of the Falash Mura community. She slammed the NSC report and said that she “cannot continue to sit in the government while Jews in Ethiopia are butchered,” Haaretz reported.

Unlike Ethiopian Jews from the Beta Israel community, the Jews from the Falash Mura community are not considered Jewish by the Interior Ministry and they cannot immigrate under the Law of Return. Members of the Falash Mura community who are granted permission by the Israeli government to be brought to Israel must undergo giyur (their ancestors converted to Christianity generations ago.) About 30,000 Falash Mura Jews have been brought to Israel since 1997.

Due to the recent escalation of the civil war in Ethiopia, Israel’s Foreign Ministry has evacuated the families of the diplomats stationed in the African country. The diplomats are continuing to work at the embassy in Addis Ababa for now, although there are growing fears that the Tigrayan rebel forces will occupy the capital.

The Foreign Ministry last week also issued a travel warning to Ethiopia and recommended that all Israelis currently in Ethiopia leave the country.

Last week, Ethiopia declared a nationwide state of emergency.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)