Why These Ethiopians Are Called Beta Isreal

Who are the Beta Isreal?

They are the Ethiopian jews who unanimously formed the minority group In Israel due to their Immigration status and skin colour. Between 1984 & 1985, over 7,000 Ethiopian Jews were moved from the Sudan to Israel in what was tagged Operation Moses, and in 1991 another 14,000 and even more were taken within 24 hours from Addis Ababa to Israel in what was called Operation Solomon.

While historians are still uncertain about the origin of the Ethiopian Jews what is definitely certain is that the genesis of the Beta Israel departure from Ethiopia began in the early 1980s. This was after a coup in the Ethiopian government led to the death of more than 2000 Jews which was directly followed by the prohibition of the practice of Judaism and the teaching of Hebrew. This marked the begining of operation Moses and Operation Solomon carried out by Israel to aid the evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan and Addis Ababa.

Prior to the immigration operation, a debate was held in isreal on whether or not to consider the Ethiopians as Jews. this debate went on for long untill a conclusion was reached that the Beta Isreali are indeed Jews. However, upon migrating to Isreal many beta isreal appear to have been isolated from mainstream Jewish communities while suffering religious persecution, a significant misrepresentation and racism