delights in it. He controls this area just where they are and he has made it clear to them what their position is. He is a modern gauleiter. He is a man of violent passions and he has singled these people out. He has told these Falashas-he lines them up in the village. He tells them, "Listen-this is the way it is. You are not Jews. The world has abandoned you. Forget it. You are here and you are under my power and nothing you do you try to emigrate there will be imprisonment, death and torture." And they know he means it. They are dehumanized like the Jews in Europe at the time of the Holocaust. It is a situation that is a serious problem. You have a situation not unlike the Holocaust. You have a situation where here you have got people in this dehumanized state. They are frightened. They are despised by the local populace. They are feared by the local populace. All you need is a small spark in this area. It is an area where famine and disease are not strangers and could lead to their extinction. There are many Jewish organizations in the United States which believe that nothing should be done publicly. They say, let us be quiet;. you are only going to cause trouble. We do not want to bring this tragic plight to the attention of the world. But I think it is our association-I think we are rather modest sometimes in taking credit for this. We have watched the constant attrition for the past 25 years and particularly since 1974, this revolution. It has not bettered the situation. It has worsened their situation. We are convinced the Ethiopian Jews have nothing to lose by ventilating their cause and seeking the help of the U.S. Government, for it is obvious that quiet diplomacy has done little to alleviate their situation. In fact, only the threat of worldwide exposure brought about the rescue of the several thousand in the last few years. I mean, what can you do? You are in a country where obviously the United States has not got great input. That is pretty clear. But what we have is, we have a State Department there. We have a presence there, and I think our State Department people must be given notice-political notice-of what the American Government believes in the way of human rights. I think you have got to tell them that when a Falasha comes there to our Embassy in Addis Ababa or in East Africa, that they are helped. You know, a bureaucrat in the State Department in the labyrinth of the bureaucracy can find a hundred ways to say no to you. I worked for the Government and if they want to, they can do it. They must be given the instruction that they must help these people, that they are a special case and although there are a lot of special cases in Ethiopia, they represent a group that was persecuted, and that their applications must be given special attention. They do not want to come to America. They are the one group, I think, that 95 percent of almost everyone I met wants to go to Israel. So, in the past, they have been given what is known as a "laissez passez" visa. It is a visa that does not allow you to come here. It looks like an American visa on its face, but it has the ability to get you out of Ethiopia or a neighboring country. I think that the State Department must give this political instruction to issue these visas. This is a government that is persecuting these people. The next to the last thing: The United States through international organizations-there are a lot of them that we can work through-should set up some kind of a mission to aid these people up in the region. You have to aid others, it is true, but they must be given instruction to the mission. Something costing $0.5 million or something like this could do a tremendous job. These people are mainly illiterate, frightened, and need this kind of outside help. If we could contact friendly and other African governments to pressure the Ethiopians to allow the reunion of Falasha familiesthere are a couple of thousand in Israel-this would bring out a few thousand more and aid in the humanitarian cause. You know, I will never forget-I have a picture in my mind. This is the last thing. On my last night I was in Ethiopia, I was walking with one of these teachers who had been tortured badly-the one who was dragging his foot behind him—and there were three or four other Falashas with us. They have a law that after dark you cannot congregate in groups, so we had to keep walking because we did not want to go inside anyplace. We were afraid. Of course, I stood out a little-I am an American-and we walked and this poor fellow dragged his foot with this hollow look in his eye and suddenly he stopped me and he said, "You know, you have got to help us. You have got to help us. We are going to be destroyed. We are finished here." I think if we do not do something these people are finished. [Mr. Rosenberg's prepared statement follows:] PREPARED STATEment of HENRY ROSENBERG, VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ETHIOPIAN JEWS years old. I enlisted My name is Henry Rosenberg. I'm 53 I am an attorney Over a period of years, I've worked as a volunteer lawyer for For many years I was involved in aiding minorities and ex-convicts to obtain well paying jobs though admission to the craft unions. I have been active in Big Brothers for many years and served on For many years I've been Treasurer and on the Exeutive Committee Since the 1974 revolution and ensuing civil war, I've spent approximately eight weeks in Ethiopia, in two visits; the last visit being in November 1981. WHAT IS THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR ETHIOPIAN JEWS? The Association is a voluntary, non-profit agency, which was created in 1969 to provide relief, rescue and resettlement for Ethiopian Jews. It has a Board of 50 individuals, representing the country at large. The operations are entrusted to an Executive committee of 10 persons. It has no paid professional or clerical staff, all the duties being assumed by volunteer members of the Board. It has no rented quarters, with the homes of several Board members serving as instruments for the transaction of all business. Several of our Board members have been to Ethiopia on onr or more occasions. Many more have met with Ethiopian Jews in Israel and the United States. We have 10,000 active financial supporters, who provide us with the 'funds we need for our various programs. In Ethiopia, the Association has provided modest funds for education medical care, farming, direct relief to some individuals and given assistance to a number of Jews who were able to leave Ethiopia legally. The Association initiated two programs that assisted a number of Ethiopian Jews to leave another country, where they were suffering as refugees. This initiative literally led others to rescue several thousands, all of whom are now residing in Israel. Our Association established an organization of and for Ethiopian Jews in Israel, provided scholarships for several score attending programs on a college level, has assisted families with a large number of children, developed volunteer services for them amongst the better equipped Ethiopian Jews attending schools of higher learning, supported several research programs concerning their nature and adjustment at the Universities of Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion in Israel. It brought five Ethiopian Jews to the American Jewish Community to tell the story of the serious problems confronting them in Ethiopia and elsewhere. Most important of all, it has been totally responsible for bringing the terrible plight of Ethiopian Jewry fo the attention of the American and world Jewish communities. I. PRESENT SITUATION OF THE FALASHAS A(1) Hundreds of Falashas have been imprisoned and tortured and killed as Zionists and CIA agents for crimes ranging from distributing matzos to teaching Hebrew, to trying to emigrate. I've interviewed and seen some of those who bear the physical evidence of this torture. (2) Most of the Falashas are illiterate, so the imprisonment and torture of their teacher-leaders had the desired effect of frightening the Falashas and intimidating the teachers. One of them, his eyes once sparkled, now all I could see was a haunted stare. After months of torture which left him crippled, he now walks by dragging his foot behind him. Another teacher whom we tried to get out several years ago, on medical grounds (his leg was shattered) was in 1979 tortured so badly the old break was rebroken. B(1) I was allowed to enter any Christian or Moslem villages, but not Falasha villages in that area. I know foreigners who've been arrested for merely stopping in a Falasha village. They are officially closed and one gets in clandestinely and for only a few minutes, if at all. Like in Russia, you are always accompanied by a government guide. In my earlier visit due to a personal relationship, I was able to get to many of the Falasha villages. Thus conditions have actually deteriorated. (2) Synagogues are officially closed, the priests (Falasha practice biblical judiasm with priests not rabbis) are jailed and tortured for practicing their religion. (3) Jewish schools are closed, yet Christian and Moslem schools in the area are functioning. (4) ORT an international organization, backed by money from Canadian and several European countries was expelled from the Gondar region where most of the Falashas live. It had given some help to the Falashas as well as their neighbors, provided jobs for many Falashas, most of whom are the poorest of the poor in Ethiopia. (5) The provincial governor, Major Melaku, or his agents summons the Falashas in their village and threaten them. If a member of their family escapes and they don't notify the officials within 24 hours, they will be arrested. (More of Melaku later). II. HOW FALASHA PAST EFFECTS THE PRESENT (1) Despite an Ethiopian written record of more than 800 years of the 3,000 years of Falasha history, they are called Falashas meaning "stranger or alien". They prefer Bete Israel. These once proud rulers of a substantial part of the country were reduced from more than a million to a handful. In the 17th century they lost their last redoubt in the Simien Mountains to the cannon of the Amhars. Large numbers were killed, forcibly converted, and enslaved, and carried off to the then capital of Gondar. They were forbidden to own land, being forced to work as tenant farmers, in a country where land ownership is intertwined with political, economic and social status. Forced to work as artisans, by the government, in a country where artisans are feared as sorcerers; thus they are called Buda and Kyler, feared and despised as sub-humans. (2) With the modern drift to the cities, Falashas who venture there, are forced to deny and hide their Jewishness and live as non-Jews. (3) Even those who escape to neighboring countries, amongst the more than one million refugees have to hide their Jewishness. III. MAJOR MELAKU He is a member of the Derg, the small clique that governs Ethiopians. He controls the Gondar area where most of the Falashas live. From friends of mine, other Christians and Jews, has emerged a portrait of a modern gaulieter. A man of violent passions he delights in torture and murder, personally taking part. He has singled out the Falashas, closing their schools, synagogues and villages. Isolating and adding to their dehumanization, he has told the Falashas that the world has abandoned them. IV. SERIOUS PROBLEM Thus we have a situation not unlike the condition of the Jews in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. Frightened, despised and feared by the local population, dehumanized with a powerful foe threatening them-only a small spark, in an area where famine and disease are not strangers could lead to their extinction. There are many Jewish organizations in the United States who believe that nothing should be done publicly to bring this tragic plight of Ethiopian Jewry to the attention of the world, but that whatever is done, should be done with the utmost secrecy. As our Association has watched their constant attrition for the past 25 years, and particularly since the revolution of 1974, we are convinced that the Ethiopian Jews have absolutely nothing to lose by ventilating their cause, and seeking the help of the United States Government, for it is obvious that quiet diplomacy has done little to alleviate their situation. In fact, only the threats of wide-spread exposure have brought about the rescue of the several thousand in the last three years. PROPOSAL 1. Our State Department should authorize our Counsel in Addis Ababa to aid their applications to leave in every manner. 2. Of the Falashas that I've spoken to, 95 percent want to go to Israel, not America. Thus the political decision must be made and forwarded to the State Department to issue Liassez Passez visas, allowing Falashas to leave but these visas would not be valid for entry in the United States. 3. The United States through international organizations whose specific mission would be to give special aid to the Falashas (cost less than $500,000) should set up programs in the Gondar area to aid the Falashas. 4. The United States should contact friendly African and other governments to pressure the Ethiopians to allow the reunion of Falasha families. On my last night in Ethiopia in November, I was walking with a Falasha teacher who'd been tortured along with several other Falashas. We had to keep moving to avoid violating the law against group congregating. And as he walked dragging his leg behind him, he looked up at me and said, "Help us, help us quickly or we'll be destroyed." Mr. BONKER. Thank you, Mr. Rosenberg. STATEMENT OF RACHAMIN YITZACK, VICTIM OF PERSECUTION First of all, my name is Rachamin Yitzack. I was one of the victims. I escaped, walked over 380 kilometers to the bordering countries, and I happened to liberate myself. The whole detail of my background is written in the report. Now, only 200 years ago we were about half a million. In 1948, we were about 40,000. Today we are about 25,000. The Falashas, we believe the first Jews from Ethiopia from Egypt after they fled to Israel with Jeremiah after the destruction of the first temple in 587 B.C. Others trace the origin of the Falashas from the visit of the Queen of Sheba to the court of King Solomon. According to the legend, the Queen returned to her land with a son from Solomon and a large Jewish entourage, or followers, the ancestors of the Falashas. Others maintain that the Falashas were descendants of the lost tribes of Dan. Whatever the true origin of the Falashas is, there is no doubt that many left Israel after the destruction of the first temple. Until the middle of the present century, the Falashas practiced the rituals of the Jewish Bible. The Falashas had their own independent kingdom ruled, and over a large portion of the northwest part of Ethiopia, they had their own king and queen. In the late 13th century, pressure on the Falasha population resulted from evangelistic and expansionist activities of the new dynasty which claimed to be the rightful inheritors of the Axumite |