BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended an impasse which threatened the coalition’s majority, by agreeing to the immigration of the remaining members of the Ethiopian Falash Mura community.

In 2013, the government declared that a three-year operation to bring the last of the Falash Mura community to Israel had been completed and that the historic Jewish immigration from Ethiopia had come to an end. The Falash Mura are descended from Jews who were pressured to convert to Christianity generations ago. Around 8,000 Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel during “Operation Moses” in 1984 via Sudan and an additional 14,000 came during “Operation Solomon” in 1992 by air shuttle. However, the Falash Mura community insisted that more remained in Ethiopia and wished to come to Israel.

Their cause was taken up by two Likud MKs, David Amsalem and Avraham Neguise, who refused to vote with the government until the issue was resolved. The government has a razor-thin single seat majority and so Amsalem and Neguise’s absence meant that the coalition lost a vote on pensions and failed to pass a Likud-sponsored bill to limit the fund-raising of political organisations.

Yesterday, Netanyahu agreed to end the standoff by approving funds for the immigration of 1,300 Falash Mura in June and a further 9,000 over the next five years. Neguise apparently made the case that such a move would not be as financially costly as had been initially predicted.

However, both Amsalem and Neguise will be punished by the Likud Party, which said in a statement “even though the MKs acted out of moral motives, they are both aware that they violated accepted procedure and accepted to be punished during the summer session.” They will not be allowed to submit Knesset motions or give speeches in the plenum.

Meanwhile, Likud’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan yesterday warned that “the government will not be able to last much longer” with looming disagreement within the coalition over the annual budget.