Ethiopian immigrants are planning a protest Sunday to protest the Finance Ministry’s cutting of the monthly quota of immigrants to be absorbed from 300 to 150. Ariel Sharon had promised, in return for financial assistance from the UJC, to increase the quota from 300 to 600. Finance Minister Avraham Hirshzon said the move will save 130 million shekels annually.
MK (National Union) Uri Ariel sharply attacked the plan to cut the Ethiopian immigration budget. Ariel accuses the government of "hurting the weakest - those who are literally starving, those people who yearn to make it to the Jewish Homeland."
Ariel called on PM Olmert, Finance Minister Hirshzon and Absorption Minister Ze'ev Boim to eliminate the cut, vowing that if they fail to act, he will enlist a Knesset majority to remove the objectionable cut from the state budget.
His Own Personal Disengagement
In the Rose Garden, opposite the Knesset and government ministries, Ethiopian immigrant Adgo Salehu has been protesting for over a year. He has a simple request: that the caravan home he was assigned when he moved to Israel be given back to him.
Salehu came back one day from visiting his mother’s grave to find his trailer in the Givat HaMatos section of Jerusalem had simply been removed. He says he owed the Ministry’s subsidiary, which owned the trailers, 8,000 shekels, but was about to receive money to pay off the debt. The money was to come from the more than $70 million raised by American Jewry on behalf of Ethiopian immigrants.
“I was not raised the way people say you have to behave here in order to receive fair treatment from the government,” Salehu says. “I have a hard time demanding, so I came here, to the Rose Garden to plea for my only home back.”
A year has gone by and Salehu still sits in the park – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He has a number of hand-made signs protesting his treatment. He says municipal police officers regularly confiscate his signs and attempt to draw him into physical confrontation. “That way they can just send me to jail and claim what they did to me was justified all along,” he says, explaining that he refuses to use violence.
He says journalists and others have taken interest in the past, but assurances from the Absorption ministry that he has been offered alternative housing in the north or south of the country usually lead to a lack of interest in his plight.
“My family lives here in Jerusalem, and what’s more is, if I were to go north or south, what guarantee do I have that the same thing won’t happen to me again and I’ll be homeless and without my family,” he says.
Salehu insists Absorption Minister Ze’ev Boim (Kadima) has the power to return his home. “And until he does, I am not leaving here,” Saleha says softly.
Boim’s office can be reached at (from outside Israel 972 2) (From Israel 02) 640 8439 or 640 8440 and faxed at 649 6062. He can be emailed at: zaevb@knesset.gov.il
Those wishing to contact Adgo can call him at 052 396 8804 (972 52 396 8804 from outside Israel) or reach him by mail at PO Box 593, Jerusalem, Israel 31004.
(Photos: Josh Shamsi, Arutz-7 Photojournalist)
MK (National Union) Uri Ariel sharply attacked the plan to cut the Ethiopian immigration budget. Ariel accuses the government of "hurting the weakest - those who are literally starving, those people who yearn to make it to the Jewish Homeland."
Ariel called on PM Olmert, Finance Minister Hirshzon and Absorption Minister Ze'ev Boim to eliminate the cut, vowing that if they fail to act, he will enlist a Knesset majority to remove the objectionable cut from the state budget.
His Own Personal Disengagement
In the Rose Garden, opposite the Knesset and government ministries, Ethiopian immigrant Adgo Salehu has been protesting for over a year. He has a simple request: that the caravan home he was assigned when he moved to Israel be given back to him.
"How can a Jewish government allow a citizen to just have his whole life taken away?" Salehu asks.
Salehu came back one day from visiting his mother’s grave to find his trailer in the Givat HaMatos section of Jerusalem had simply been removed. He says he owed the Ministry’s subsidiary, which owned the trailers, 8,000 shekels, but was about to receive money to pay off the debt. The money was to come from the more than $70 million raised by American Jewry on behalf of Ethiopian immigrants.
“I was not raised the way people say you have to behave here in order to receive fair treatment from the government,” Salehu says. “I have a hard time demanding, so I came here, to the Rose Garden to plea for my only home back.”
"Months without a home! Where is the compassion?" One of Salehu's older signs.
A year has gone by and Salehu still sits in the park – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He has a number of hand-made signs protesting his treatment. He says municipal police officers regularly confiscate his signs and attempt to draw him into physical confrontation. “That way they can just send me to jail and claim what they did to me was justified all along,” he says, explaining that he refuses to use violence.
He says journalists and others have taken interest in the past, but assurances from the Absorption ministry that he has been offered alternative housing in the north or south of the country usually lead to a lack of interest in his plight.
“My family lives here in Jerusalem, and what’s more is, if I were to go north or south, what guarantee do I have that the same thing won’t happen to me again and I’ll be homeless and without my family,” he says.
Adgo with his sisters, who try to accompany him at his protest as much as possible.
Salehu insists Absorption Minister Ze’ev Boim (Kadima) has the power to return his home. “And until he does, I am not leaving here,” Saleha says softly.
Boim’s office can be reached at (from outside Israel 972 2) (From Israel 02) 640 8439 or 640 8440 and faxed at 649 6062. He can be emailed at: zaevb@knesset.gov.il
Those wishing to contact Adgo can call him at 052 396 8804 (972 52 396 8804 from outside Israel) or reach him by mail at PO Box 593, Jerusalem, Israel 31004.
(Photos: Josh Shamsi, Arutz-7 Photojournalist)