Cabinet approves Netanyahu’s plan to help 400 Ethiopians immigrate to Israel

Netanyahu’s plan to bring another approximately 400 Ethiopian immigrants to Israel was approved.

By World Israel News Staff

This week the Israeli cabinet approved a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help another approximately 400 Ethiopian Jews immigrate to Israel.

At the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu stated, “I am proud of the fact that as Prime Minister, I have had the privilege of bringing thousands of our brothers and sisters from Ethiopia, and we intend – of course – to continue doing this. This is an additional step. We are also committed to the full integration of members of the community into Israeli society. We are working for this without respite and we will continue to do so.”

Netanyahu also addressed the issue of discrimination, committing “to work in the country with full force against expressions of racism, everywhere, and certainly in every part of the government and the public.”

The prime minister added, “Every few weeks, I have convened here a meeting of government ministers to deal with all needs but first of all this basic need – to understand how they feel, to change the public approach and to truly take a very clear stand against all expressions of racism in general and against our brothers and sisters in particular.”

Aliyah and Absorption Minister Yoav Galant also spoke at the meeting, explaining that as a commando 40 years ago he “had the privilege of helping to bring the first Ethiopian olim [immigrants] from the Sudanese coast.”

Galant added, “Today, as Aliyah and Absorption Minister, we are working to bring the remaining Falash Mura, who have been waiting in Ethiopia, due to the elections process, for a year already. There are 398 people waiting for nothing in Addis Ababa and Gondar when they could be sitting today in absorption centers in the State of Israel.”

The immigration minister concluded, “The State of Israel has a moral debt to the members of the Ethiopian community, who serve in the IDF and contribute in all aspects of life, to unite with their family members who have been left behind. I commend the Prime Minister for leading this effort.”