The Legal Struggle of an Ethiopian Jew to Reunite with His Family in Israel
Aliyah from Ethiopia
The aliyot (immigrations) to Israel from Ethiopia were always difficult. Ethiopian Jews made tremendous efforts to reach the Promised Land but sometimes encountered problems with Israeli authorities. The state of Israel faced a tremendous challenge of absorbing tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews. These challenges to the Ethiopian aliyah were caused not just by the difficult situation in Ethiopia at the time but also by the attitude of Israeli society in general. The Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption worked according to strict procedures which weren’t compatible with the reality which Ethiopian Jews faced.
After the mass immigration campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s, entire Ethiopian Jewish communities were left behind, unable to prove their right to immigrate under the Law of Return to the Israeli authorities. Israel has demanded, and continues to demand, proof of Judaism as a precondition for immigration to Israel. Israeli authorities examine every applicant carefully to ensure that none of those coming to Israel is infiltrating the country illegally. This careful level of sorting had led to the formation of huge queues and long waiting periods for Ethiopian Jews, sometimes lasting for years before the approval and actual immigration to Israel.
Abra’s Aliyah Story
This was also the case for Abra (a pseudonym), as he and his family had to wait for years before Israel recognized their entitlement to make aliyah to Israel. Abra was a high school student, and he met his future wife, a Christian girl who was a year senior to him, while still in high school. The two fell in love, moved in together, and a short time later they had a child. They did not marry because they were young, and their families never approved of their relationship.
In 2007, when Abra was 19 years old, he, his mother, and his brother received the approval of the Jewish Agency and finally had the chance to immigrate to Israel. When his wife and two-year-old daughter asked to accompany him, they were refused. Having no choice, and thinking that he could do more to help his wife and child in Israel, a broken-hearted Abra left Ethiopia and immigrated to Israel alone.
Abra fit in well with Israeli society. He studied at an ulpan for about a year, then joined the IDF and completed his full military service in a combat unit. At the same time, he did not forget his wife and daughter. For years, he would call them and send them money. The distance did nothing to lessen his love, and he worked tirelessly to bring his family to Israel.
The Struggle for Family Reunification
Abra flew to Ethiopia to be legally married to his wife in 2012, and he came to visit his family once more in 2013. He then applied for a family reunification procedure by virtue of their marriage to the Ministry of Interior branch in Holon. The request was refused. The refusal on the part of the Population and Immigration Authority had a twofold basis: the first was that there was insufficient evidence of the “sincerity” of the marriage. The second was that prior to Abra’s entry into Israel, he signed a form in which he explicitly declared that he was single and had no children.
Darkest before the Dawn
Abra submitted an appeal to the headquarters of the Population and Immigration Authority in Jerusalem but was denied once more. The authority once again claimed that he and his mother had both signed a document stating that he was not married and had no children before his immigration, and that despite the marriage, there was still insufficient proof of his relationship with his wife.
Abra immediately appealed the decision in the appeals court. Abra, who was unmarried during his immigration process, admitted that he had signed a statement confirming he was single, but claimed he had never declared he had no children. The appeal was denied, as the appeals court decreed that there was insufficient proof of an ongoing relationship between Abra and his wife.
The appeals court left room to prove fatherhood of his daughter through a DNA tissue test and to give further proof of maintaining contact with his wife while living in Israel. Abra immediately submitted a request for the family court to examine the results of the parenthood test. The court ruled that Abra was indeed the biological father of his child.
A Happy End
Having received the ruling, Abra submitted another application to the Ministry of Interior to approve the entry of his wife and daughter into Israel. The request was accompanied by further proof that he maintained steady and constant contact with the two while he lived in Israel. In the end, after four years of legal proceedings and almost a decade since he immigrated to Israel, the long-awaited permission of entry was granted. In December 2016, his wife and daughter, now 12 years old, entered Israel on the basis of the procedure for granting Israeli status to foreign spouses of Israeli citizens (family reunification), and they now live together in the same modest home in Bat Yam.
Abra’s story is far from being unique in the annals of the Ethiopian aliyah. Many Ethiopian Jews still struggle to reunite with the family and loved ones they left behind.
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If you have questions regarding immigration to Israel or problems with aliyah to Israel, please contact our law firm.
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:מאמרים מומלצים