300 Ethiopian immigrants the first to make aliyah to Israel in 2021

The new year is off to a great start for 300 new Ethiopian immigrants, who just made aliyah in the first immigration flights of 2021.

The flights, arriving on the first day of the year, were part of Operation Rock of Israel, the latest airlift to help Jews in Ethiopia make aliyah and were carried out by the Jewish Agency and other Israeli officials and partner organizations, including the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (IECJ), which sponsored the flights for a third of the new immigrants.

The issue of Ethiopian immigration has been prevalent for nearly six years, since the government decided in 2015 to help the last remaining Jews in Ethiopia make aliyah. However, the process remains slow.

The situation in Ethiopia has also deteriorated in the last year, due to prolonged food shortages, an armed internal conflict within the Tigray region and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Efforts remain underway to bring the rest of the intended immigrants to Israel, in an endeavor spearheaded by Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, who is an Ethiopian immigrant herself, and Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog.