The government has allocated NIS 150 million for the aliyah and absorption budget, including funds for the ongoing immigration of the Falash Mura community of Jewish descendants from Ethiopia to Israel in the state budget approved during marathon negotiations Sunday night.
Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata threatened on Thursday to resign from the government and oppose the budget from the Knesset if sufficient funds were not allocated for immigration from Ethiopia.
The minister said on Monday that with the new funds, she hopes to bring 3,000 of those remaining in Ethiopia to Israel by the end of 2022, as part of the “Rock of Israel” operation she initiated last year which brought 2,000 members of the community to Israel during the course of 2020 and 2021.
Tamano-Shata said that an additional NIS 23m. was added to the budget for the “Israeli Horizon’s” project designed to encourage aliyah from abroad and prepare immigrants for their aliyah before they arrive.
The previous annual budget for “Israeli Horizons” stood at NIS 24m., meaning the increase under the coming state budget will nearly double the funds for this program.
“I want to thank Finance Minister [Avigdor] Liberman for demonstrating responsibility for the issue of aliyah and absorption, and for understanding with me the importance of aliyah and absorption for Israel and the importance of continuing to work for the immigration of those waiting in Ethiopia,” said Tamano-Shata.
Some 5,000 members of the Falash Mura community remain in Ethiopia, while another 5,340 people have claimed immigration rights since 2010 with the backing of the Ethiopian Jewish leadership in Israel as well as prominent, mainstream rabbis from the religious-Zionist community in Israel.