http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?id=50520&mador=1
Ha'aretz, July 7, 1999
Kuwarans cite poor treatment by Israelis
By Tom Segev, Ha'aretz Correspondent
ETHIOPIA - Several Kuwaran Jews are complaining
that the officials from the Jewish Agency and
Interior Ministry charged with bringing them to
Israel are treating them harshly, suspiciously
and condescendingly.
"The officials are doing their best to bring to
Israel as few Kuwaran Jews as possible," said one
of the Jewish activists in Gondar - where the
Kuwarans have been staying while awaiting their
chance to fly to Israel.
Officials have reportedly been refusing to
facilitate the departure of mixed families - that
is, marriages with one Jewish and one gentile
partner - contrary to the Law of Return. Other
reports have the officials requiring non-Jewish
partners to demonstrate some sort of "connection"
to the Jewish way of life - another violation of
the Law of Return.
In some cases, the Israeli officials have been
using one of the Kuwaran leaders, a man named
Amra Iyov, to determine how connected to Judaism
the non-Jewish partner is.
Iyov told Ha'aretz that he asks women to prove
they observe ritual purity laws, and men to show
him that they are circumcised.
In response to questions on the matter, two
Jewish Agency officials said they are acting in
accordance with the Law of Return, and that they
discovered quite a few mixed couples who
apparently created fictive marital unions for the
purpose of being allowed to board one of the
flights to Israel.
The officials said some such couples had already
succeeded in getting to Israel.
They also said that about 90 percent of the
Kuwarans who want to come to Israel will be
allowed to do so. The officials arrived in Gondar
several weeks ago, and have since been busy
sifting through the 3,000 or so candidates for
immigration.
In the meantime, most of the Kuwarans are living
in dark and narrow huts, sheds and sheep pens
they are renting from local residents. Many of
them are suffering from malnutrition, though
Israeli and American doctors who visited the site
said there is no truth to reports that there is a
plague ravaging the population.
The Interior Ministry's activity in Gondar is
being funded by Christian evangelists in Chicago,
following the ministry's refusal to foot the bill
for the operation.
An Orthodox Jewish rabbi from Chicago, Yechiel
Eckstein, read in the newspaper about the funding
dispute, and decided to help solve the problem
himself. Eckstein managed to raise $100,000 from
local evangelists and sent the money on to
Israel.
Eckstein told Ha'aretz he intends to send Israel
another $2 million, donated by the evangelists,
for the absorption of the Kuwarans. The rabbi
said the evangelists are filled with love for
Israel, and that many of them believe Diaspora
Jews must return to Israel in order for the
second coming of Jesus Christ to be fulfilled.
The selection process the Kuwarans are going
through is being run under a heavy cover of
secrecy, with no public supervision. Israeli
officials say the secrecy is necessary in order
to avoid arousing the ire of the Ethiopian
regime. The Ethiopian foreign minister recently
castigated Israel's ambassador in Addis Ababa,
Airel Karmi, for the media ballyhoo that has
accompanied the serial airlift of the Kuwarans.
Several of the Kuwarans said they are subject to
the whims of the Jewish Agency and Interior
Ministry officials. Those whose petitions to
immigrate are rejected are hard-pressed to appeal
their fate, as most of them cannot read.
One of the Jewish Agency officials told Ha'aretz
that those Kuwarans who are turned away are not
notified of their right to appeal, nor of how
such appeals could be undertaken.
So far, 400 of the Kuwarans have been brought to
Israel, including more than 100 who arrived
yesterday.
The newest immigrants appeared healthy and were
wearing new clothes they received in Addis Ababa
before flying to Israel. Another group is
expected tomorrow.
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