Report: Israel pays $ 40 million for some 4,000 Falasha Jews
Israel-Ethiopia, Politics, 7/6/1999

The Paris based al-Muharrir News weekly said in its recent issue that Israel has bought some 4,000 Falasha Jews at a cost of US $40 million from Ethiopia and that those Jews are to be taken in two stages to Israel in accordance with a secret agreement between the two sides.

The weekly quoted Western diplomatic sources in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, as saying that on June 25 some 72 Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel as a vanguard for the large-scale migration operation. It added that this measure came after Falasha Jews were brought together in a camp in the Ethiopian district of Qara in preparation to transfer them to Israel.

The paper added that Israeli planes are ready to start the transport operations according to the secret agreement which called for evacuating 100 Ethiopian Jews every week, a matter which makes this operation take 10 months in an attempt not to draw the attention of the Arabs and the public opinion.

The same source stated that Israel, with the backing of Jewish agencies in the US, Latin America and Europe, had bought the Ethiopian Jews at a cost of US $40 million, in addition to military equipment and shipping costs which will be of a total value estimated at US $50 million.

The Ethiopian Reporter magazine said last week that 200 Ethiopian Jews from Qara camp were actually transferred to Israel in an Ethiopian passenger plane at a cost of US $2.5 million paid by the government of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Al-Muharrir news said by transporting the 4,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel, Ethiopia will be completed empty from its Jews.

The issue of Jews emigrating to Israel has been a sore point with the Palestinians who are having their residency cards withdrawn from Jerusalem, and where Palestinian houses are demolished and Palestinian land is confiscated in order to expand Jewish settlements.

Previous Stories:
  New 100 Ethiopian Falasha Jews arrived in Tel Aviv   (7/1/1999)
  Ethiopian Falasha Jews in Israel   (6/23/1999)
  The first shift of Falasha arrives in Israel today   (6/22/1999)

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