‘Delegation to Ethiopia is a human safari trip’

The head of the group of protesters for Ethiopian aliyah said on Wednesday that senior government officials who intend to participate in a delegation to Ethiopia are treating it “as if it were a human safari trip,” instead of investing the funds in the aliyah process itself.

The Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday that a delegation of director-generals of government ministries are set to embark on a mission to Ethiopia in July, after which it will suggest to the cabinet a plan to wrap up immigration from Ethiopia.

“We at the headquarters of the Struggle to Save Ethiopian Jewry are angry with the delegation for using aliyah budgets to send a delegation to Ethiopia,” Surafel Alamo, the coordinator of the Struggle to Save Ethiopian Jewry told the Post.

He added that instead of paying for the delegation of directors-general of ministries, “the government could have financed a flight of the immigrants from Ethiopia to Israel.”

Alamo explained that “the role of government officials is to find a solution for the upcoming budget,” with regards to funding aliyah from Ethiopia, and “not travel to visit the Jewish communities in Ethiopia as if it were a human safari trip. We require those senior managers to sit around a table and find a solution instead of wasting time on travel.”

A letter from the directors-general of the Jewish Agency and the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, obtained by The Jerusalem Post, a “professional delegation of ministries to Ethiopia,” will take place for four days, beginning July 2.