Demonstrators gathered outside the Knesset on Sunday demanding that the government facilitate the immigration of approximately 10,000 relatives of Israelis of Ethiopian descent, given ongoing violence and strife in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

Protesters said the government has halted immigration from Ethiopia and stopped funding for it, demanding that leaders immediately “reallocate funds to resume immigration and bring to Israel those whose situation continues to deteriorate against the backdrop of the civil war in Ethiopia,” according to a statement from the organization, Power for Aliyah, which assists Ethiopian immigrants.

The group estimated that roughly 2,000 protesters came from across the country, mostly from the Ethiopian community, many of whom have family members waiting in Ethiopia to immigrate.

The gathering was the latest in a longstanding effort to bring to Israel descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity in the 19th century, often under duress, as well as some of their relatives. The minority has been known as Falash Mura, a term some regard as derogatory.

The community stayed behind in Ethiopia as Israel, in the 1980s and 1990s, extracted those who were widely seen as the main and oldest Jewish presence in Ethiopia, known as Beta Israel. In 1992, Beta Israel Ethiopians living in Israel began lobbying for their converted relatives who had stayed behind to be allowed to immigrate.

Since the 2000s, about 25,000 converted community members, who are not eligible to immigrate under the Law of Return, have immigrated under government decrees, on........

© The Times of Israel