"From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia I will bring My worshippers, the daughter of My dispersed ones and they shall bring My offering." - Zeph. 3:10

The Left Behind Jews

(Dr. H. Ghebrehiwot / Israeli physician in Ethiopia)

"...the Lord shall set his hand again... to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left,...from ETHIOPIA" Isaiah 11:11

"I will say... to the south, keep not back; bring my sons..." Isaiah 43:6

Residing in Ethiopia, I am able to see the daily misery of the remaining Ethiopian Jews. The Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa has registered about 26,000 potential immigrants at the moment. All these people are just living in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa and Gondar. The Jews have understood from the last two experiences that this is the only way it works and not simply by waiting in their villages which can take years. So once again, they are exposed to hunger and lack of housing and many other basic things.

In addition to these, the longer they stay in cities like Addis Ababa, the more they are exposed to many other difficulties including HIV/AIDS. Addis Ababa is one of the cities in Africa with a certain degree of endemicity to HIV/AIDS. In Operation Moses (1984), where the Jews did not come to Addis Ababa and instead immigrated via Sudan, the AIDS rate was found to be zero as they arrived in Israel. But in Operation Solomon (1991), where they had to stay about 7 years in Addis Ababa, 513 out of the 14,000 Jews were found to have the infection (not necessarily the disease). By the way, this does not say anything about (correlate with) the moral status of the Ethiopian Jews as research has shown that 85% of the transmission of the infection (in parts of East Africa) is what we call INNOCENT TRANSMISSION, like from mother to baby or a single medical personnel with his unsterilized instruments infects many people at once... etc.

Although the Prophet Isaiah (Isa. 11:11) spoke about the ingathering of the Jewish people from Ethiopia, experience from the last 20 years has shown that for some reason the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government have acted mainly whenever there was a pending war or threat of war. This is a strong saying, but the only way I can explain why it takes an average of 7 years to process Aliya from Ethiopia according to the research of Prof. Corinaldi known in the prestigious Hebrew University/Jerusalem. Anyone who reviews the background of both operations (Operation Moses and Solomon) can easily understand it. The Israeli public has such a good sympathy on the left behind Ethiopian Jews. According to a poll 2 years ago from the Jerusalem Post, about 80% of the population says that the government should take an immediate action to bring the remaining Jews to Israel.

Fervent Prayer is needed for God to speed up the immigration to Israel. I think very much that there is a tremendous hindrance from the enemy who opposes the fulfillment of the prophecies.

Practical help is needed now more than ever as the Jews are left alone on their own in Addis Ababa and will take so long time until the Israeli government (as usual) takes an action.

But then it can be late for some of them. 39 people had to die in 1991 before the Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa was led to set up a clinic with the help of JDC according to a report of the Israel Medical Journal (June-July, 1991 edition). We need to help sustain the lives of these dear people of God until they reach to their promised land.

WHERE DOES ISAIAH 40:1 APPLY MORE? COMFORT YE, COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE

Unfortunately, many Israel lovers seem to be interested more in helping the Jewish people after immigration to the land of Israel. I say this with all respect and love to the many organizations trying to do their best to help the Jewish people in Israel. Although I have experienced myself as an immigrant to Israel the difficulties after immigration, it can never be compared to the time before immigration.

For Ethiopian Jewry The Critical Time Is Before Immigration.

Help when and where there is a real need.

A typical sorrowful example is that of OPERATION MOSES where the official Israeli figure of those who died on the long journey from GONDAR (Ethiopia) via Khartoum (Sudan) to Israel is estimated around 4000. This means that one-third of those who started the 3-months' journey on foot died on the long way to Sudan being victims to diseases, wild animals, jungle rebel groups... as well as hardship inside Sudan as they were waiting for the secret Operation. This is a horrible figure but who has counted ever those who suffered and died on the remote highlands of Ethiopian so many years before Operation Moses.

I remember in October 1998, the former Prime Minister of Israel (Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu) mentioned about the plight of an Ethiopian Jewish family at a gathering of around 5000 Christians from all over the world. The family lost 11 out of their 13 children on the way to Israel via Sudan during Operation Moses. And after arriving to the promised land, one of their two left children died serving on the IDF (Israeli defense force). Prime Minister Netanyahu told then to the Journalists (who asked him of a situation which made him cry) that this last funeral was the moment he remembers in his authority when he really broke into tears.

When we look back to the modern history of the Ethiopian Jews, taking only the last 100 years - the number of Ethiopian Jews has been halved, first because of the great famine known as KUFU KEN (Ethiopian language) around the turn of the last century and secondly by the Italian invasion of Ethiopia during the 2nd world war. That is why Ethiopian Jews who were once considered to be one of the big numbered tribes (almost half a million) during the time of Queen Yodit of Ethiopia, can hardly number into 100,000 including those have immigrated to Israel and still leave in Ethiopia.

THE JERUSALEM REPORT, one of the known Jerusalem magazines, made an extensive report (1998) about one of the several Ethiopian Jewish Groups left behind in Gondar, a place known for its history but with a poverty and health situation difficult to describe. It reported that in one village, QUARA, approximately 10% died waiting for their Aliya (delayed by 7 years) after they were registered and made eligible for Aliya. They died because of the terrible life situation and killing tropical diseases (not natural causes of death). I have made a short comparison of health indicators in Israel and Ethiopia. For ex. TRACHOMA is a simple eye infection which can be simply treated with a cheap antibiotic, but untreated, it can lead to complications difficult to treat and even up to blindness. There are Ethiopian immigrants in Israel suffering from the last stages of Trachoma who can not be helped much even with sophisticated medical operation techniques,. Simply it is too late.

Following is a table (an Excerpt) from a lecture I gave in Jerusalem comparing the life of Ethiopian Jews in Israel and Ethiopia.

		ETHIOPIA	ISRAEL
		(Jews in Ethiopia)	(Jews in Israel)
Health
	Infant Mortality Rate	110/1000 (10% babies die in the 1st year)	Israeli average (less than 1%)
	Child Mortality Rate	250/1000	Comparable to western world
	Physician / Population	1:40,000	Approx. 1:150 (world record)
Income Per Capita/person		$110/year	Around $16,000
Literacy:		Approx. 30%	Education is compulsory