Aizawl: Altogether 240 members of the Bnei Menashe community from Mizoram reached Ben-Gurion airport at around 12am on Friday (Israel time), the first group to arrive at Israel since the govt decided in Nov to fund the immigration of around 6,000 members of the community.Chawimawii, who arrived in Tel Aviv early this morning, told TOI over phone that more community members will also be leaving Delhi for Israel by next week and that Bnei Menashe members from Manipur are also expected to arrive in Israel soon.She said Israeli authorities granted them citizenship on arrival and that a grand reception was organised at the airport. She said they will be residing in Nazareth, in northern Israel.Upon their arrival, well-wishers, many from their own community, cheered them while waving small Israeli flags as a rendition of “Oseh Shalom” played through loudspeakers.The arrivals marked the first Bnei Menashe group to land since the Nov decision to fund immigration from Mizoram and Manipur in northeast India. The govt plans to fly 1,200 people to Israel over the course of 2026, with two additional flights scheduled in the next two weeks, according to the Aliyah and the Israel’s integration ministry.Around 300 members each from Mizoram and Manipur were selected by nine rabbis who visited Aizawl during the first part of Dec last year. Around 35 people including nine rabbis, members of the Jewish Agency for Israel and diplomats of Israel embassy including the Ambassador to India, had been camping in Aizawl since Dec 1 last conducting screening of Bnei Menashe members to migrate to Israel as the first batch.Israel has approved a plan to absorb nearly 6,000 members of the Bnei Menashe community residing Mizoram and Manipur, in a phase manner, by 2030, according to Benjamin Netanyahu govt’s decision announced recently.The Shavei Israel organisation, which seeks to trace the descendants of the lost tribes and has facilitated the community’s immigration process, said some 4,000 Bnei Menashe have immigrated to Israel since the 1990s from Manipur and Mizoram, with around 7,000 still living in India.The Bnei Menashe regard themselves as the lost tribe of Israel. Their oral history tells of a centuries-long exodus through Persia, Afghanistan, Tibet and China, while adhering to certain Jewish religious practices.In India, they were converted to Christianity by 19th-century missionaries. The newcomers to Israel will need to convert to become Israeli citizens.
