GONDAR, Ethiopia (JTA) — It was love at first sight for Wesom Mellesse when his wife stepped into his metal shop 17 years ago.
“Her dad took her into my shop because he needed me to fix their plow and when I saw her, we understood that we felt something. We fell in love. I asked her father if we could marry,” said Mellese, a 38-year-old father of three who now works as a carpenter in Gondar, a northern city that is Ethiopia’s sixth largest.
His choice in marriage was even more faithful than he realized at the time.
Because of it, Mellese became ineligible to join his father, sister and brother when they emigrated to Israel in 2007 along with other Falash Mura — Ethiopians whose Jewish ancestors converted to Christianity.
Mellese’s story is typical of cases that have turned the Falash Mura immigration into a painful and protracted saga despite multiple Israeli governments’ pledges since 1992 to resolve it.
Nearly a dozen times, Israeli governments have committed to admitting batches of Falash Mura, under pressure to allow them to reunite with family members in Israel. And just as often, delays and stringent rules have fueled additional family separations, creating a self-perpetuating cycle.
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