Aliyah from Ethiopia

The Jewish aliyah from Ethiopia, or the immigration of ethnically and religiously Jewish Ethiopians to Israel, began during the mid-1970s, during which the majority of the Beta Israel community emigrated to Israel.

In 1973 the Israeli Ministry of Absorption prepared a comprehensive report on the Beta Israel ethnic group (the historical name of the Israelite Ethiopian community), which stated that the Falasha were foreign in all aspects to the Jewish nation. The report concluded that there was no need to take action in order to help the ethnic group make Aliyah to Israel.

Shortly after the publication of the Ministry of Absorption report in 1973, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the Sephardi chief rabbi, decreed that the community of "Beta Israel" are a descendant tribe of Israel. He also said that giving them a proper Jewish education and the right to immigrate to Israel, in his definition, was a Mitzvah. On the other side, Shlomo Goren, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi, said that the Beta Israel Ethiopians are not the descendants of the Tribe of Dan and he said that they had been assimilated to non-Israelite communities over the years.Ovadia Yosef's Halakha ruling ended with the Law of Return being applied to the community, notwithstanding the Ministry of Absorption report and notwithstanding the position of the Ashkenazi chief rabbinate. In order to bring the Beta Israel community to Israel, an inter-office staff was founded, which included representatives from the Israeli Justice Department, Israeli Ministry of Interior, Israeli Ministry of Absorption and the Jewish Agency for Israel. This action was mainly promoted after the election of Menachem Begin as Prime Minister in 1977.

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