Israel May Bar Most Ethiopian Jews Who Became Christians

An Israeli government committee recommended Tuesday that thousands of Ethiopians whose families converted from Judaism to Christianity over the years should not be brought here as a group to join relatives who have arrived over the past decade in mass airlifts.

The decision--though it calls for admission of spouses, parents and children of Ethiopians who have already emigrated--was immediately denounced by leaders of the Ethiopian community as “tearing our hearts out.” That is because the majority of the 30,000 Felas Mora, as the converts are called in Ethiopia, will not be accepted for immigration.

“The right to return to Israel is not applicable to the Felas Mora collectively,” said Immigration Minister Yair Tsaban, the committee chairman, effectively rejecting the Ethiopians’ contention that they were forced by successive governments in their homeland to convert to Christianity and should again be accepted as Jews.

The committee’s recommendation thus drew the tightest possible circle around the number of Felas Mora--probably fewer than 2,000--whom Israel will accept with no further evidence of their “right of return.”

The recommendation, which must be approved by the full Cabinet, was aimed at settling a controversy that has raged for more than two years. The dispute brought repeated charges of racism as Ethiopians, whose numbers grew to more than 50,000, contended that the government favored Russian immigrants and discriminated against them.

The Public Committee to Save Ethiopian Jewry condemned the recommendation as an indication of further bigotry. “Shall we create here an ‘impure sect’ bearing the mark of Cain?” the group demanded. “They are Jews like us! We may not judge them for we have not stood in their place.”

The group argued that, in drifting away from the practice of Judaism, the Felas Mora were no different than the secular Jews of Europe. “Since we are talking about Jews--members of a Jewish community who did not intermarry--who are we to judge them and reject them?” the group asked in a statement.

But the government committee also recommended that Israel accept relatives of Ethiopian immigrants who would be left “in isolation or distress” by the departure of their families for Israel.

And Ethiopians who can prove a relationship with a Jew--as spouse, child, grandchild or spouse of a child or grandchild--will be able to apply for admission as a normal immigrant under Israeli law. Tsaban said that, over time, this would let thousands more Ethiopians immigrate.

“There will be a special committee, headed by an Israeli official in Addis Abba, that will look at every individual case and decide what to do,” Tsaban said, adding that it would be advised by the Ethiopians’ spiritual leaders and that its decisions could be appealed in Jerusalem.