Ethiopian immigrants arrive in Israel, Wednesday
Ethiopian immigrants arrive in Israel, WednesdayFlash 90

The Israeli Immigration Policy Center has petitioned the Supreme Court of Justice, demanding that the brakes be put on the government's decision to bring 3,000 Ethiopians in the waiting camps in Addis Ababa and Gondar.

According to the decision made last month, those who have relatives in Israel will be brought to the country and allowed to immigrate.

A budget of NIS 570 million ($183,270,333) has been allocated for the implementation of this decision.

The petition demands that the Israeli Immigration Policy Center stop the implementation of the decision, claiming that it is a matter of setting new and fixed criteria for granting status in Israel.

"In practice, just as recently revealed in the media and in the Interior Ministry report, those seeking to immigrate to Israel are included in unsupervised lists, and only when they arrive in Israel do they "prove" that they are of Jewish descent. Of course, the criteria for that "proof" do not exist or are not defined, and in any case, there is a serious defect in the administrative process here," the petition reads.

In addition, the petitioners complain that contrary to the publications, the current government decision does not intend to end the saga - in fact, it leaves the issue open, stating that, "The staff will examine" if there are others who should be brought to Israel: "Every additional decision to bring people who do not fit the criteria set out in Sections 1-2 of this decision will be made after the receipt of the staff's recommendation and the formation of a final list of those eligible and not eligible, and decisions on the issue of sending letters of notice in this regard."

The Center also warns that the policy towards those waiting from Ethiopia is discriminatory in relation to Jewish communities from the other Diaspora and emphasizes that those harmed by the current policy are actually members of the Jewish community of Ethiopians: "Their Jewish identity and authentic image has been harmed by the fact that status has been granted to those who are coming from Ethiopia but who have no proven connection to Judaism. A number of their prominent representatives have joined this petition as petitioners. "

Joining the petition are Avraham Yardai, former Chairman of the Ethiopian Jewish Association; Treasurer and Deputy Chairman of the umbrella organization of Ethiopian Jews, Einhu Sanbato; a social activist; and Moshe Babu Yaakov, a member of the Ramla City Council and former spokesman for the Ethiopian Jewish umbrella organization. Other participants in the petition are the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel and the Professors' Circle for Political and Economic Resilience.