Last June, when the Israeli government airlifted 58 Christianized Ethiopian Jews (known as Falash Mura) from a refugee camp in Addis Ababa to Jerusalem, immigration officials declared it 'the final load' in a series of Ethiopian evacuation operations stretching back to 1984. The compound where immigrants had been kept would be closed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced, and future immigration applications would be handled through normal channels.

But, as Abraham Rabinovich reports in the American Jewish magazine Moment (Dec. 1998), somebody forgot to tell the Falash Mura. Within days, thousands of refugees streamed into Addis Ababa in hopes of immigrating to Israel. More than 8,000 now await action by an Israeli government suddenly enmeshed in a bitter immigration struggle that holds little promise of resolution.

That the Falash Mura are descendants of Jews is undisputed; they broke away from the Ethiopian Jewish community (or Falasha) and began converting to Christianity more than a century ago. And under the Israeli Law of Return, which allows anyone with at least a single Jewish grandparent to immigrate, these Ethiopians should be welcomed into the country (indeed, thousands already have been). But Israeli immigration experts are now contesting the Ethiopians' Jewish credentials. 'They didn't just identify as Christians, they lived Christian lives,' says Micha Feldman of the Jewish Agency. 'They went to church and were buried in Christian cemeteries and lived in a Christian environment.'

Others charge that the Falash Mura are simply economic opportunists, poised to cash in on distant Jewish roots to escape from one of the poorest countries in the world. Israeli officials, who airlifted in more than 20,000 Ethiopians with clear Jewish credentials during Operation Moses in 1984 and Operation Solomon in 1991, are wary of setting a precedent that would make the country a magnet for impoverished immigrants with ambiguous Jewish ancestry. After finally allowing 5,000 Falash Mura to immigrate during the past two years, they have decided to draw the line.

But advocates argue that the widespread Christian conversions among the Falash Mura are understandable given the rampant persecution of Jews in Ethiopia. In Israel, they would be free to embrace Judaism once again, as most of the 8,000 to 10,000 Falash Mura there have done.