“The state of Israel won when it got immigrants from Ethiopia,” President Shimon Peres said Wednesday, speaking at a celebration of the Sigd holiday. Sigd is marked by the Ethiopian Jewish community.

“It’s very moving for me to hear you,” Peres said, speaking to young immigrants. “You basically made aliyah (immigration) twice, once when you came to Israel and once when you managed through determination to become an integral part of Israeli society.”