By: David Parsons, ICEJ VP & Senior Spokesman

A group of 248 members of the Bnei Menashe tribe from northeast India arrived in Israel early Tuesday morning on an Aliyah flight sponsored in part by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. With the ICEJ’s funding of flight tickets for 49 of these newest immigrants to Israel, the ICEJ is wrapping up a remarkable banner year for our Aliyah efforts, despite the Corona lockdowns and travel bans worldwide.

Due to Corona, the new arrivals will be quarantined for two weeks at a facility near Netanya and will begin lessons on Hebrew and Judaism, before settling down in Nof Hagalil in northern Israel.

The Bnei Menashe community dates their heritage back 2700 years to the time when the Assyrian empire exiled the northern ten tribes of Israel, including the tribe of Menashe. They were re-settled with other Israelites in Persia and along the ancient Silk Road. Over the centuries, their particular community ventured east into China and later down into northeast India, before reconnecting with Israel and the Jewish mainstream in recent decades.

Through the efforts of the Shavei Israel organization, Israel has allowed some 2,437 members of the Bnei Menashe community to make Aliyah since 2003. Almost half of them, 1114 in total, have come on Aliyah flights sponsored by the ICEJ – including 49 who came as part of this week’s group.

With their arrival, the ICEJ has now assisted nearly 3,000 Jews from at least ten countries in making Aliyah so far this year. This includes sponsoring Aliyah flights for over 1,624 new Jewish immigrants coming from Russia, Belarus, Brazil, Ukraine, Ethiopia and India. This figure marks the most Aliyah flights sponsored by the ICEJ in a single year since the massive influx of Soviet Jews in the early 1990s. For these immigrants to reach Israel, the ICEJ also had to arrange and fund over 366 connecting flights for them. The Christian Embassy also provided funding for two-week stays in Israeli quarantine hotels for another 346 Jewish immigrants this year. We also sponsored Aliyah preparation programs for some 200 Jewish youths who made Aliyah to Israel this year.

The total number of new Jewish immigrants assisted by the ICEJ in making Aliyah this year amounts to about 20% of all Jews who made the move to Israel in 2020.

Altogether, the ICEJ has now assisted nearly 160,000 Jews from more than 35 countries in making Aliyah to Israel since our founding in September 1980. This represents more than ten percent of all the Jews who have immigrated to Israel over the past four decades.

You can be part of this great, prophetic Ingathering of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland. Support the Aliyah efforts of the ICEJ.