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The International Political Ramifications of Falasha Emigration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Teshome G. Wagaw
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The term Falasha is derived from the Ge'ez or Amharic word maflas, ‘to remove’, and denotes people without land or roots, strangers, and will be used in this article because of its wide international recognition, although most Ethiopian Jews now prefer to be known as Beta Israel. According to their tradition, the Falasha have lived in Africa for more than two-and-a-half millennia, for the most part unaware of the existence of other Jews in the world. In recent years, an increasing number have felt impelled to seek a permanent home in Israel, and by June 1991 as many as 43,000 had managed to achieve this goal. Although most of these Ethiopian Jews must have anticipated that emigration would not be easy, it is very unlikely that they, or anyone else, could have known just how difficult would be their ordeal.

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , December 1991 , pp. 557 - 581
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

1 Although these figures are approximate, due to lack of precise data, they are probably not far off the mark. See Parfit, Tudor, Operation Moses: the story of the exodus of the Falasha Jews from Ethiopia (London, 1985), pp. 118–21.Google Scholar

2 There has been no accurate census in Ethiopia. My estimate of the number of Falasha is partly based on extensive travel during 1966–9 in southern Shewa where the majority of them lived. In addition, I found many to be in Addis Ababa, where they had come in search of education and jobs, while others in the main urban centres were often the descendants of artisans brought there during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I met such adults and young people in Israel in 1987 and 1991, and noticed that they looked more alert, articulate, and well educated in comparison to the majority of those who came from rural areas. For the scattering of the Falasha, see Kessler, David, The Falashas: the forgotten Jews of Ethiopia (New York, 1982), pp. 124–5.Google Scholar

3 For a detailed account of this operation, see Murphy, Kim, ‘Airlift of Ethiopian Jews Ends in Joy’, in Los Angeles Times, 26 May 1991.Google Scholar

4 Tayeb may be a corrupted form of the Ge'ez/Amharic term Tebib, meaning ‘wise’ or ‘clever’, having degenerated to become associated with a group of people who could make mischief or evil through the machination of superhuman forces. On the other hand, Bala-ij simply means one who uses his hands to fashion artifacts, or who is generally skilful. Jews do not seem to object to being called Kayla, although the exact meaning of this Cushitic word is not known, but they do not like being referred to as Budda, since this denotes all those who have magical powers to cause evil. This stereotype has been used as an excuse to persecute or even bodily harm innocent Falasha for years.

5 The Ethiopian monarchy was challenged from time to time, and some Agew usurpers, such as those of the Zagwe dynasty, ruled from the tenth to the thirteenth century. But in 1270 the throne was restored to the Solomonic line and continued, with some interruptions in the nineteenth century, until the overthrow in 1974 of Emperor Haile Selassie, who died in mysterious circumstances while under house arrest a year later.

6 The Ethiopia of that time, or Abyssinia proper, was confined to the highlands, where both Jews and Christians, the two major monotheist groups were concentrated.

7 For the English translation of this epic work, see Budge, Ernest A. W., The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menelek (London, 1922).Google Scholar

8 One of the difficulties for the Falasha has been, and continues to be, this lack of recognition of their full Jewishness both by people of the land of their origin and by Jews in Israel – hence the continued controversy over their ‘reconversion’.

9 Jews versus Orthodox Christians is a more meaningful contrast than Falasha versus Amhara, since the two latter categories have, at least to all intents and purposes, the same ethnicity.

10 For similarities between the religious practices of the Falasha and the Orthodox Jews, see Shelemay, Kay Kaufman, Music, Ritual, and Falasha History (East Lansing, 1986), pp. 17–18 and 71–90.Google Scholar

11 For the most part, the Falasha have been a landless minority. In a society where land was highly valued not only for its economic worth, but for its psychological and prestige importance as well, to be without land was to be subject to severe exploitation. To compensate for their poverty, the Falasha concentrated on perfecting a number of skills that were vital to the community and appreciated as such. Nevertheless, their ‘cleverness’ aroused other types of problems, including the Tayeb syndrome mentioned above.

12 The Democratic Charter, announced in 1976, directed that all religious, linguistic, and ethnic groups in Ethiopia would enjoy freedom and equal rights without any interference by the state. See Wagaw, Teshome G., ‘Emerging Issues of Ethiopian Nationalities: cohesion or disintegration’, in Northeast African Studies (East Lansing), 2, 3, 1980–1981, pp. 69–75,Google Scholar and ‘The Development of Higher Education and Social Transformation: the case of Ethiopia’, Center for African Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, 1990.Google Scholar

13 For the politicisation of the educated and their rôles in social change, see Wagaw, Teshome G., ‘The Burden and Glory of Being Schooled: an Ethiopian dilemma’, in Rubenson, Sven (ed.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Association of Ethiopian Studies (Lund, 1983), pp. 487–96.Google Scholar

14 The strength of the armed forces has grown by leaps and bounds since the overthrow of Haile Selassie in 1974, when the combined total was about 50,000, including the police. By the mid-1980s Ethiopia had a standing force of over 300,000, thereby making one of the poorest countries in black Africa the first in military manpower.

15 For a good summary of the civil wars, see Korn, David A., Ethiopia, the United States and the Soviet Union, 1974–1985 (London, Sydney, and Carbondale, 1986), pp. 48–174.Google Scholar

16 According to Payne, Eric, Ethiopian Jews: the story of a mission (London, 1972), pp. 30–60,Google Scholar and Parfit, op. cit. pp. 39–41, the Israeli Government assisted development projects in the Falasha areas until they became alarmed by what this might eventually entail – namely, a desire by Ethiopians to want to emigrate en masse to Israel, for which the Israeli authorities were not prepared.

17 Author's interview with Eshkol, Michael Baruch in Gat, Kiryat, Israel, July 1985.Google Scholar Also, Shapiro, Leon, The History of ORT (New York, 1980), pp. 321–4. Ironically, the Organisation for Rehabilitation through Training while trying to improve the lot of the Falasha in Ethiopia was opposed, for example, by the American Association for Ethiopian Jews, which alleged that the O.R.T. was subverting plans to help Ethiopians emigrate to Israel.Google Scholar

18 After an extended debate in 1973, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Ovadia Yosef, ruled that the Ethiopian Jews were descendants of Dan, one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel, and hence entitled to avail themselves of the 1950 Law of Return that affirmed the right of Jews in the Diaspora to become full citizens of the state of Israel. Two years later, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi concurred with that judgement, and in April 1975 the Government enacted the necessary legislation. This decision was later transmitted by various means to Ethiopian villages, according to Kessler, op. cit. pp. 156–7.

19 Ibid. pp. 123–5.

20 Leslau, Wolf, ‘A Falasha Religious Dispute’, in American Academy for Jewish Research: proceedings (New York), 16, 1947, pp. 71–94,Google Scholar and Falasha Anthology (New Haven and London, 1951), p. xli;Google ScholarUllendorff, Edward, The Ethiopians: an introduction to the country and people (London, 1972 edn.), pp. 110–12;Google Scholar and Abbink, G. J., ‘The Falashas in Ethiopia and Israel: the problem of cultural assimilation’, doctoral dissertation, Institute for Cultural and Social Anthropology, Nijmegen, 1984, pp. 110–11.Google Scholar

21 In the absence of any relevant statute, the term ‘legal’ is used in the sense that the Israelis had concluded certain arrangements for emigration with the constituted Government of Ethiopia.

22 Abbink, , op. cit. p. 112.Google Scholar

23 Parfit, , op. cit. pp. 35–62.Google Scholar

24 U.N. agencies in Khartoum complained that Israeli agents were encouraging people to move to the Sudan from regions where famine was not a problem, thus taxing unnecessarily the facilities of United Nations refugee camps.

25 See, for example, ‘In Sudan, Tide Turns Against the U.S.’, in The New York Times, 29 April 1986.

26 Confirmed in an interview with Gabriel Warburg of Haifa University, a specialist on Sudanese history, at the Annenberg Research Institute in Philadelphia on 7 March 1990.

27 According to information given to the author in April 1987 by Rabbi Nahum of Acre, the Ethiopians were brought to that port at night in order to give the impression that they had arrived in Israel by ship.

28 Apart from the violence precipitated by fierce struggles to survive with limited resources, the maltreatment suffered by the Falasha was reportedly from Sudanese camp officials who may have been prejudiced by their traditional religious beliefs against Jews in an Arab country.

29 Some survivors in Israel's absorption camp told the author in July 1985 that they had been robbed of their clothes, food, and cash by shiftas, or vagabonds, who often connived with government officials.

30 According to information obtained by the author in July 1985, the 98, while in Tel Aviv, Yosef Adane, the only Israeli-trained Beta Israel Rabbi, put the figure as high as 5,000.

31 Melaku's name means ‘angel’ in Amharic. Born and raised in Debre Tabor, Gondar region, he attended the élite military academy in Harar, possibly because some of his relatives were prominent officials during Haile Selassie's era. As one of the original and most ideologically inclined members of the Derg, Melaku seems to have wished to prove that he was a revolutionary Marxist. It has been claimed that he harboured some past family grievances against the Falasha.

32 See Parfit, op. cit. pp. 92–5.

33 Ibid. pp. 95–6.

34 Ibid. pp. 32–80.

35 Details of this monetary exchange were revealed during the official trial of Momar Tayeb in September and October 1985 in Khartoum.

36 The author was told that many of those left behind in the Sudanese fufugee camps were descendants of former slaves owned by the Falasha.

37 ‘An Unfinished Rescue’, in The Jerusalem Post, 6 January 1985. See also, ‘Ethiopians Upset and Bitter over Airlift Halt’, ‘U.S. Officials Angered by Lifting of Censorship’, and ‘Belgian Charter Firm: publicity stopped us’, in ibid. 6 January 1985, and ‘Politicians Wrangle over Secrecy Breakdown’, in ibid. 7 January 1985; and ‘Airlift to the Promised Land’, in Time (New York), 02 1985.Google Scholar

38 The Chicago-based American Association of Ethiopian Jews continued to work effectively in raising the needed funds, recruiting facilitators both within the régime in Addis Ababa and among private individuals, and encouraging the Israeli and U.S. Governments to maintain diplomatic pressure on Ethiopia through the United Nations and various member-states.

39 ‘An Unfinished Rescue’, loc. cit.

40 Quoted in ‘An Exodus Mired in Politics’, in Macleans (Toronto), 21 01 1985.Google Scholar

41 Stated by Mariam, Mengistu Haile during a Canadian Broadcasting Service television interview, May 1985.Google Scholar

42 ‘Sudanese Officials to Visit Moscow’, in The Washington Post, 18 January 1986.

43 ‘In Sudan, Tide Turns Against U.S.’, in The New York Times, 29 April 1986.

44 ‘Ex-Sudan Aide Gets Two Jail Terms for Rôle in Ethiopian Airlift’, in ibid. 6 April 1986.

45 See ‘Sudan: Kaddafi calling’, in Newsweek (New York), 14 04 1986,Google Scholar and ‘U.S. Fearing “Another Teheran” Plans Partial Pullout from Sudan’, and ‘Embassy Threatened’, in The New York Times, 17 April 1986.

46 Rachim Elazar had been brought to Israel in 1972 as a very young boy, and eventually graduated from Tel Aviv University. For some time, he was in charge of the Amharic radio programme for new immigrants. Fluent in both Hebrew as well as his native language, Elazar is one of the few Beta Israel who is well acculturated to Israeli society.

47 This helps to explain subsequent actions by the U.S. State Department. For instance, Herman J. Cohen, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, decided that the régime in Addis Ababa should be pressed at every opportunity to release the Beta Israel if it wanted improved relations with Washington.

48 ‘Ethiopians Exploited’, in Michigan Daily (Ann Arbor), Vol. IC, No. 80, 1991.Google Scholar

49 Woldemariam, Mesfin, ‘An Ethiopian Peace Initiative’, XIth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, 1–6 04 1991.Google Scholar

50 The author has a file of letters that contain graphic details of the plight of the Falasha. A vivid description of the situation by Addisu Messele, one of their prominent, if controversial leaders, is quoted by Rebibo, Joel, ‘A Long Way from Gondar’, in Moment: the magazine of Jewish culture and opinion (Washington, D.C.), 4, 5, 1989, pp. 42–55.Google Scholar

51 Brown, Elizabeth, ‘Waiting in Gondar’, in Reform Judaism (New York), Winter 1989, pp. 6–7.Google Scholar

52 Allon, Giddeon reported in Ha-aretz (Tel Aviv), 6 November 1989, that a delegation from Ethiopia, led by Kassa Kebede, the Israeli-educated uncle of Mengistu Haile Mariam, had been received by the Defence Minister, Moshe Arens, and by the Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, who expressed appreciation for Ethiopia's desire to re-establish diplomatic relations, noting the long friendship that had existed previously.Google Scholar

53 According to Al-hamihmar (Tel Aviv), 17 January 1990, Shamir stated that as soon as the Israeli embassy was reopened in Addis Ababa, all the remaining 15,000 Jews would come to ‘their country’. By way of contrast, it should be noted that Ethiopians had been told repeatedly by their state-controlled media that the Falasha had been abducted by Israel, and that they would like to return if given a chance. However, as far as the general public was concerned, it could not have been too difficult to understand that groups of Ethiopians wished to escape because they found life unbearable. Even the intellectuals who were aware of the régime's propaganda to the contrary, objected to the manner in which the Falasha were leaving Ethiopia. See Mesfin Woldemariam, op. cit.

54 Fitzgerald, Mary A., ‘How Ethiopian Rebels Turned Struggle Around’, in San Francisco Chronicle, 4 July 1990. See also, ‘Ethiopia Mulls Exodus of Black Jews’, in The Washington Times, 12 June 1990.Google Scholar

55 ‘Ethiopian Exodus Starts Again’, in ibid. 23 November 1990.

56 Kraus, Clifford, ‘Ethiopia's Dictator Flees. Officials Seeking U.S. Help’, in The New York Times, 21 May 1991,Google Scholar and ‘Ethiopian Rebels Head for Capital as Resistance by Army Crumbles’, in ibid. 23 May 1991.

57 Murphy, , loc. cit. 26 May 1991. It was reported that four senior Ethiopian officials (including two Falasha) smuggled themselves out of Addis Ababa during ‘Operation Solomon’.Google Scholar See Bender, Ary, ‘Director-General of Ethiopian Secret Services Will Seek Donations for the Absorption of Immigrants’, in Ma-arir (Tel Aviv), 30 05 1991,Google Scholar and Shiffer, Shimon, ‘Foreign Ministry Forced Kassa Kebede to Leave Israel’, in Yediot Aharonot (Tel Aviv), 31 05 1991.Google Scholar

58 Yehezkeli, Zadak, ‘Demanding Ransom for Ethiopian Jews is a Disgrace’, in Yediot Aharonot, 11 June 1991,Google Scholar and ‘Ethiopia is Investigating Where US$35 million Israel Paid Disappeared To’, in ibid. 14 June 1991.

59 Halan, Yehuda, ‘Operation Solomon Will Be Completed Next Month’, in Ma-ariv, 24 June 1991.Google Scholar

60 Rebibo, , loc. cit. p. 42.Google Scholar

61 Derfnen, Larry, ‘Forgotten Immigrants’, in The Jerusalem International Edition, 31 March 1990, p. 10.Google Scholar

62 Interview in Arbor, Ann, 5 May 1991, with Yaiel Edelstein, who had recently returned to the United States after a visit to Israel.Google Scholar