Bring them home

I was delighted to learn that Interior Minister Silvan Shalom intends to bring the 7,000 member of the Beta Israel to Israel (“Families of 500 IDF soldiers to be brought here,” July 27). However, it is sadly not true that the families of IDF veterans are eligible for aliya. Under a government decision, only the parents of IDF veterans are eligible. Moreover, according to the Absorption Ministry, even they are not eligible for immigration benefits previously granted to Ethiopian immigrants. Thus, Minister of Absorption Ze’ev Elkin recently denied government immigration benefits to the families of two IDF soldiers.

Similarly 300 people recently approved for aliya by a special Interior Ministry committee headed by Moshe Vigdor, are not being brought to Israel by the Jewish Agency because they too are being denied immigration benefits package. Sadly there are an additional 400 people who have had valid aliya permits for over three years – granted for humanitarian reasons – that the Jewish Agency has not brought because the Absorption Ministry will not provide them with the minimal benefits previously granted other Ethiopian immigrants. It is Kafkaesque; humanitarian cases have been singled out by the Absorption Ministry for the denial of humanitarian assistance.

JOSEPH FEIT

Lawrence, New York

The writer, a human rights lawyer, previously served as the president of NACOEJ.