Attacks against Jews are on the rise in the Ethiopian province of Gondar and in the capital city of Addis Ababa, where much of the Jewish population has fled, according to an Israeli student who recently visited the country.
Shlomo Moulah, a student at Bar Ilan University, said that in recent months, five Jews had been killed by armed marauders who descended on villages in Gondar and forced Jewish residents out of their homes at gunpoint.
Other Jewish residents escaped to nearby villages and from there to Addis Ababa, according to Moulah, whose account was published Sunday in Ma’ariv.
He also reported that 15 Jews are being held in Gondar’s central prison for allegedly trying to escape the country en route to Israel. He said he had been told by family members that the prisoners had been tortured.
However, sources in the U.S. Congress, the State Department and the American Jewish community were unable to confirm the details of Moulah’s disturbing stories.
“I have no knowledge or confirmation of the report, though I have been looking for confirmation from both Israeli and Ethiopian sources,” said William Recant, director of the American Association for Ethiopian Jews.
A State Department official also said he could not confirm the information, though he said he had heard of “reports of violence taking place” in Gondar coming from Jews who had reached Addis Ababa.
ROBBERIES IN ADDIS ABABA
The official said Ethiopian authorities had imprisoned Jews who tried to leave the country illegally in recent years. But he pointed out that, Kassa Kebede, a top aide to Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam, announced March 29 that Mangiest had pardoned all who had been jailed for attempting to emigrate.
It is not known whether the Ethiopians have in fact freed such prisoners, the official said.
The Bar Ilan University student painted a grim picture of Jews in Ethiopia and criticized the Israeli government and world Jewry for not doing enough to help Ethiopian Jews.
“If one Jew were killed in Leningrad, world Jewry would be in an uproar — and justifiably so. Why the silence when Ethiopian Jews are killed?” Moulah asked in his report.
The process of reuniting Ethiopian Jews with their families in Israel has been slow and complicated, Moulah noted.
A family that wants to leave Ethiopia must obtain passports which are only valid for two weeks. Because of the ever-present waiting list for a flight, the Jews are forced to renew their passports over and over again, at great expense, Moulah said.
As many as 15,000 Jews arc now said to be waiting in Addis Ababa and surrounding towns to leave the country.
According to Moulah, they have been subject to attacks by robbers who seek to steal the financial assistance the Jews receive from various organizations.
(JTA staff writer Allison Kaplan in New York contributed to this report.)
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