Israel Yearbook and Almanac 1994

Falas Mura: Still Waiting

Ethiopian Jewry has won the fight to be recognized as Jews for aliya purposes. But the Falas Mura, Ethiopian Jewish converts to Christianity, have not. The Ethiopian community in Israel remains divided as to whether they should be admitted.

Under heavy pressure from olim with family members categorized as Falas Mura and denied permission to make aliya, in February the Government approved the recommendation of an interministerial committee that the Falas Mura be permitted to immigrate on an individual basis under the Law of Entry, on the grounds of family reunification, and not under the Law of Return. On Aug. 9, a first group of 16 Falas Mura arrived in Israel under the family reunification plan. More have come since then, but thousands remain in Ethiopian.
[...]
In January 1996, the Knesset Absorption Committee recommended that the Government encourage relevant organizations to bring them back to Judaism and then allow them to immigrate. The problem is that some of them reject the assertion that they are Christians and are offended by demands that they convert. Another, more difficult obstacle, is that the Ethiopian government does consider them Christians and deported several persons in 1993 for teaching the Falas Mura about Judaism.

Israel Yearbook and Almanac 1995

The Falas Mura

The battle over the Falas Mura, the Ethiopian Jews who have converted to Christianity and were left behind by the mass aliya of Beta Israel, also continued. [...]