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| Bnei Menashe in Indian airport en route to Israel |
JNS reports:
Over one hundred members of India’s population of “lost Jews” are arriving in Israel this week, with hundreds more planning to make aliyah this year.The Bnei Menashe community — which claims to descend from the Jewish tribes banished from ancient Israel in the 8th century BCE — have organized waves of immigrants to make the move to Israel through nonprofit Shavei Israel, which describes itself as the “only Jewish organization…actively reaching out to ‘lost Jews.’”
Michael Freund, the organization’s founder and chairman, said in a statement prior to Tuesday’s arrival of 30 Indian olim, “With God’s help, we will bring a total of more than 700 Bnei Menashe immigrants to Israel — the largest-ever airlift in a single year.”
Later this week, an additional 72 immigrants are scheduled to arrive, and, according to Shavei Israel, they will be living in the northern city of Nazareth Illit, which “already has a flourishing Bnei Menashe community.”
Arab media isn’t happy about this.
The immigrants will live where the other Bnei Menashe have settled, in Nazareth Illit, the Jewish-majority city next to Nazareth. But Arab media are claiming that they are moving to “Arab Nazareth” implying that they are displacing Arab residents of the town – essentially calling them settlers.
Ramallah News is more direct, saying that they will be living in “occupied Palestine.”
Arab antipathy towards Jews moving to Israel far predates the modern state of Israel, and they are still complaining about it. There are plenty of articles about French aliyah, Russian aliyah and so forth, exulting in years where there are fewer immigrants and upset in years that they increase.
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