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January 14, 2005/Tevet 4 5765, Vol. 57, No. 20
Falash Mura disputes escalate
RACHEL POMERANCE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - The Ethiopian government has intervened in a political dispute roiling an Addis Ababa compound housing Falash Mura, Ethiopian descendants of Jews who are waiting to immigrate to Israel.
Ethiopia's justice minister was accompanied by police officers carrying firearms when he entered the compound Jan. 5, threatening to take away authority from the local community, sources close to the community said.
Ethiopians Getenet Mengesha - who joined the minister in the attempted takeover - and Yoseph Enyew say the compounds are run like sweatshops by the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry, the Jerusalem Post first reported.
"The government has made up its mind to kick out NACOEJ," Enyew told JTA.
Ethiopian government officials could not be reached for comment. Andrew Goldman, NACOEJ's Ethiopian representative, said he had heard that the justice minister claimed the group is operating illegally, but said neither NACOEJ nor its lawyer had received any notice to that effect. He maintains NACOEJ has done nothing illegal.
Last week's showdown was the latest in a series of battles for control over the fate of the 20,000 or so Falash Mura.
The Israeli Cabinet voted in February 2003 to look into Falash Mura applicants immediately to see which among them are eligible to immigrate to Israel by virtue of matrilineal Jewish descent.
Yet the process has puttered along, with Israel sometimes citing the high cost of absorbing the Falash Mura, given the tremendous social and cultural gap separating them from other Israelis.
Some 300 Falash Mura make aliyah each month, but pressure to open the gates wider is mounting.
Last month, about half of the 120 members of Israel's Knesset called on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to expedite the Falash Mura immigration.
Falash Mura already in Israel are waging a court battle against the government to speed up the process. In response, Sharon is slated to meet Jan. 31 with Sallai Meridor, chairman of the executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, which has asked Israel to double the monthly Falash Mura aliyah.
Some Jewish federations across North America have made the issue a priority and have pressed Sharon on the matter.
Ethiopian television last month aired the allegations of mismanagement against NACOEJ, which supervises the community-run compounds in Addis Ababa and Gondar.
"They have been exploiting the people for the past 13 years" and have stopped distributing food in the past five months, Enyew said.
Additionally, he claimed that NACOEJ's Goldman beats up people, and that the group has photographed young girls' naked chests and posted the pictures on the Internet.
Goldman calls the accusations lies. The group says they stem from the frustration of teachers, many of whom are not Jewish but are married to Jews, who realize they won't be eligible for aliyah.
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