Over 250 members of the Bnei Menashe community from Manipur arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday, marking the first wave of a government-funded relocation effort approved by the Israeli government in November. Welcomed with traditional Jewish songs and national colours, these Bnei Menashe, who claim descent from one of Israel's "lost tribes", are part of a broader operation to facilitate the immigration of approximately 4,600 community members from northeast India, according to an AFP report.
Among those gathered at the airport to witness the historic arrival was Dagan Zolat, who has lived in Israel for 20 years. He was eagerly waiting to reunite with a man he described as his brother.
The Bnei Menashe trace their heritage back to Manasseh, the patriarch of one of the biblical "lost tribes" exiled by Assyrian forces in 720 BC, according to AFP reports.
According to Shavei Israel, an organisation dedicated to identifying lost tribe descendants, approximately 4,000 Bnei Menashe have settled in Israel since the 1990s, while roughly 7,000 remain in India.
The community's oral tradition chronicles a centuries-long migration across Persia, Afghanistan, Tibet, and China, during which they maintained ancient Jewish customs, linking their contemporary heritage to their Biblical origins.
"This is the beginning of an operation that will allow the entire community to immigrate, 1,200 per year,"
Israeli Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer told AFP.
Following their 19th-century conversion to Christianity by missionaries in India, the 250 Bnei Menashe who arrived on Thursday are slated to settle in northern Israel as part of a structured integration plan.
According to the Ministry of Integration, the newcomers will undergo a formal conversion process to Judaism, a necessary step to secure full Israeli citizenship and complete their ancestral homecoming.
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