In a partial victory for Israel’s first-ever cabinet member of Ethiopian descent, Immigration Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, the government was set Wednesday to approve funds to bring 2,000 Ethiopians Jews to Israel by year’s end. In November 2015, the government passed a decision to airlift “the last of the community” waiting in Addis Ababa and Gondar to Israel within five years. On August 19, Tamano-Shata, of Blue and White, presented an NIS 1.3 billion ($382.6 million) framework to the Knesset aliyah committee to bring 8,000 Ethiopians to Israel and to close the camps in Gondar and Addis Ababa for good. Reactions to the news that 2,000 would be airlifted were mixed. A final agreement has been reached with the Ministry of Finance that will bring 2,000 people to Israel [by] the end of 2020.

Source: Ethiopian News September 09, 2020 21:45 UTC