Israel launches Operation Zur Israel to bring 2,000 olim from Ethiopia

As civil war rages in Ethiopia, Israel begins operation to bring thousands of immigrants, with first group set to arrive next week.

Arutz Sheva Staff , Nov 27 , 2020 1:40 PM

Preparations are in full swing for the arrival in Israel of 2,000 immigrants who have been waiting for decades in Ethiopia.

Among the Israeli bodies working to accelerate this immigration and who are on the ground with those waiting in Ethiopia include representatives from: The Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration.

All these bodies are working to rapidly implement the government’s decision in October approving the immigration of 2,000 Ethiopian Olim, which was led and approved by the Minister of Aliyah and Integration, Pnina Tamano Shata.

Despite the tense security situation in Ethiopia currently, the minister refused to cancel her working visit to these waiting communities in order to closely monitor preparations for immigration and hasten the arrival of the Olim, especially in light of the pandemic.

Minister Tamano Shata, who left Ethiopia as a three year-old girl with Operation Moses, is returning to the country where she was born, this time as a government minister on a national mission to bring the waiting Olim from her community ‘home’ to Israel.

She is expected to return with two aircrafts carrying the first Olim – children who have been separated from their parents who made Aliyah many years ago. The preparations for Aliyah and the flight are conducted by The Jewish Agency, following the Aliyah approval process by the Ministry of the Interior.

Minister Tamano Shata’s visit to Ethiopia together with The Jewish Agency delegation will launch Operation Zur Israel, which will mark the immediate Aliyah of 2,000 of those waiting in the Ethiopian communities.

Content retrieved from: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/292101.