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Olmert: Israel has not welcomed Ethiopians wholeheartedly |
| By: Israel Insider staff |
| Published: August 2, 2007 |
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Ethiopian rights groups have expressed outrage at Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit's calls to halt the aliya of the Falash Mura, Ethiopians whose ancestors were forced to convert to Christianity centuries ago.
Sheetrit said that Israel should focus on being Jewish state, and lashed out at American Jewish organizations for pushing Israel to accept them.
"Something does not smell right here," Avraham Neguise said, the director of advocacy group South Wing to Zion, which is funded in part by the North American Coalition on Ethiopian Jewry, the Jerusalem Post reported.
"We demand that the minister take back his words," he continued. "They were irresponsible comments that were made after such a short time in office. He has not even made an effort to meet with Ethiopian-Israeli families whose children or parents are still in Ethiopia and waiting to come here."
"We will continue our fight for the right of every Jew to make aliya," Neguise said. "Israel is the home for all Jews."
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