No, Of Course It's Not Racism

Ha'aretz has a sad report on Israel's attempt to deport an elderly Christian Ethiopian who helped save Jews from the persecutions of Ethiopia's former communist government. The Jewish Agency recognizes his heroism. His children and grandchildren converted to Judaism and now live in Israel. He is not a security risk. Nevertheless, Israel wants him deported immediately.

Miriam Shaviv notes the similarity between this case and Israel's treatment of the SLA.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/522177.html
Non-Jewish Ethiopian who saved Jews faces deportation    
By Relly Sa'ar

Does the State of Israel bear a moral debt toward someone who helped save Jews from a hostile regime and bring them to Israel? The Ministry of Interior believes it does not.
Two weeks ago the inter-ministerial committee of the population registry, headed by Sasi Katzir, rejected the request of Ethiopian citizen Tesma Bugala Amara, 67, to reside in Israel with full civil rights. His three children and grandchildren are citizens of Israel. The refusal of Amara's request was accompanied by a warning to leave Israel's territory at once.

As a Christian, Amara is ineligible for citizenship based on the Law of Return, and his application for permanent resident status was based on humanitarian reasons. Had the committee examined his case in terms of absolute justice, chances are it would not have decided to deport him.

Amara says that from 1978-88 he opened his home in Addis Ababa to 12 families of Jewish Ethiopian emigrants, when Israeli organizations such as the Jewish Agency were not allowed to operate in Ethiopia because diplomatic ties between the countries were suspended. "In those days," Amara recalls, "the Ethiopian regime made it difficult for citizens to leave. It demanded large sums of money that guaranteed their return to Ethiopia."

Amara was then the headmaster of a school and a member of the ruling part. He earned a relatively high salary, which allowed him freely to sign pledges and deposit securities for families that wished to receive passports and emigrate. He concealed and provided for scores of families, putting himself and his own family at risk.

"It is unjust," Amara says, "that the State of Israel is now ignoring everything I have done." Since visiting Israel on pilgrimage in 1996, Amara has been living illegally in Modi'in with his 37-year-old daughter and her three children. In August he was arrested and detained in the Ma'asiyahu prison. Now Amara is living under threat of deportation. He turned for legal assistance to Attorney Nicole Maor of the Israel Religous Action Center, who filed a petition last week at the Tel Aviv magistrate's court to recognize Amara as a "righteous gentile," because of his humanitarian action on behalf of Ethiopian Jews. "It is ironic," Maor said, "that the Jewish Agency recognized Amara's contribution years ago, and helped his children come to Israel because they were in danger in Ethiopia. They converted here and became citizens. It is now time for the State to repay Amara for his assistance to Ethiopian immigrants."

The Population Registry's inter-ministerial committee was severely criticized recently for violations of civil rights, in a report published by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, for operating in secret and concealing its criteria and modes of action from public scrutiny. In the case of Tesma Amara, too, the committee was unforthcoming. Two weeks ago Amara's daughter was notified of the refusal of her father's request and told he must leave by December 31.

The Population Registry's spokesperson said: "For reasons of privacy, the content of the population registry's decision cannot be publicized, but the decision was accepted by all the representative of the various ministries and bodies."

Maor's petition criticizes the committee's mode of action, saying it had not invited testimony from Jewish Agency workers who were familiar with the situation in Addis Ababa during the years in question, or from immigrants who were helped by Amara. Maor petitioned the court to expand the definition of Righteous Gentile, hitherto applicable only to the saving of Jews from the Nazi regime, and allow Amara the possibility of applying for permanent resident status.

Comments

[Isa]

Oh
Very interesting 'Righteous Gentile' only applies to saving Jews from Nazi regime.

[Ladron]

Isaiah 1:9
Except Hashem Tzebaot had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like Gomorrah.

[joe]

Too bad he wasn't a terrorist, they probably would have let him stay.

[Ladron]

"Very interesting 'Righteous Gentile' only applies to saving Jews from Nazi regime. "
- Sure then he would be white & acceptable .
There is a Midrash in last week Parasha on : vayifen ko vakho vayar ki ein ish.
Moshe looked into the future & saw that no tzaddik will come out of him .
You can safely paraphrase this midrash for the Ethiopian Jews & Chabad to read :
vayifen ko vakho , vayar ki ein donation .
Who needs them then ? . Not so with unsuspecting gentiles like John Voight .

[Yisrael Moshe]

First and foremost, there is no definitive proof that Ethiopians are Jews. Your adle-minded (not Adel-minded) premise is at fault.

You and the others on here are a shameful example of Jews who would gladly step over the dead body of another Jew to help a goy if you aren't actually goyim that is (then the Halacha of Aisav hates Yaakov would explain everything).

When all the Jews all of over the world are taken care of and accounted for, then lets talk helping the goyim. When you show me goyim en-masse giving money and time to Yeshivas and Synagogues as much as they would to NAZI scum like Peta (see its leader's german names like Ingrid Newkirk or the 2nd in command - Freundlich. Also see its references to the Holocaust that trivialize the deaths of so many Jews).

The Rebbe, on the other hand, was one of the few Jewish leaders not to find some excuse or reason behind the Holocaust.

However, you, lehavdil, apparently care more about animals than a Jew just like the PETA Nazis (may their and your (pl.) names be erased). You also seem to be too busy helping doubtful Jews to concentrate on the certain ones.

Your whole website is filled with baseless hate. I find your so-called charges about Chabad actually concentrating on Jews, when it is the only one that is, actually praising Chabad.

Additionally, your lying garbage causes you to omit the fact that in places all over the world (especially in California) there have been Drug Rehab centers started and run by Chabad that also serve goyim as well as Jews, food-kitchens that help goyim as well as Jews (the food is all strictly kosher which the Jews will NOT get from the goyim), and more. Even now after the Tsunami, Chabad is the ONLY Jewish organization (aside from the Israeli government) helping out victims of the Tsunami with free food, long distance and computer access (for contacting relatives). And all evil ones like you do is complain about such holy people.

Your lies and omissions are pathetic!

Just as SHEKER has no true foundation so do you lack one. Chabad and its teachings will go on and you and your PETA (read NAZI) and other lies will fall in Gehinom.

I myself was helped by Chabad and Hadar HaTorah, thank G-d. If it wasn't for the Rebbe, I and so many people I know wouldn't be frum. Even the Misnagdim now are trying to "reach out" to other Jews thanks to the Rebbe making it "kosher" when they claimed it was "forbidden/ossur".

Let all my mitzvahs and the mitzvahs of over a million Jews around the world (that wouldn't have been without the Rebbe) stand and be counted before the throne of Hashem's Glory and demand an accounting from you and the Reshaim that are speaking badly about the Rebbe, his shluchim and his teachings.

I think your cheshbon is full and its time for some accounting.

[pushkina]

you, "yisrael moshe" i don't know who you are but i'll tell you this: my father's 2 year old baby sister was MURDERED by xtians in ethiopia, because they believed that beta israel girl babies passed death in their glances. that belief is called 'buda' and is documented. if babies were REGULARLY slaughtered by xtians, because of their beliefs that this is what they had to do to protect themselves from what they believed were jews, who are you to question their jewishness?

yiddish did not come down from sinai; torah did. just because a jew doesn't speak yiddish and isn't white, doesn't mean he doesn't live a torah life. AND not the abbreiviated torah for the goyim either.

my grandfather was a qes,a practicing priest, a kohan. ethiopian jews had/have no rabbinate. he lived torah as his honor and his life.

it is people like you who really know nothing of true ahavat israel, especially the most important rule that israel comes in many colors, who are spreading sinat chinam. those sort of ignorant people have many sins on their heads and seem to seek out even more.

stop spewing filth and ignorant garbage. go learn something more important than tanya.

[Remalyah]

Yisrael Moshe
Anytime give me Pushkina's over your ugly persona , your teachers , your sect and anything you stand for .
Frum ? What is frum ? You don't come across as such ! I read your letter & I see idolater , of the lowest variety!
You may have been a better person before you turned into such fake frum !
Your letter shows you and yours for what you are , without mask . A bunch of hypocryte liers .

[FNU LNU]

Yisrael Moshe,

What a disgusting comment you gave. I only hope you were a fake posting like I first thought.