Love & Genocide- Ethiopian Jews in Israel by Gabriel Dedji

As far as love stories go, the tale of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba is quite intriguing. The Queen of Sheba, a rich and wealthy woman from East Africa, came to Israel around 900 BC bearing an abundance of gifts for King Solomon. Upon their introductory meeting, the Queen of Sheba led Solomon into an intellectual conversation about Solomon's relationship to God and the couple fell in love soon after. Interestingly, Menelik I, the couple's only child, was believed to have been the first emperor of Ethiopia.

This tale of love and royalty is just one version of the story that Beta Israel- the name given to a group of Ethiopians Jews- use to explain their heritage. It is also a story that is retold in the Qur'an, the Bible and the Torah, across the Abrahamic religions. As a result of widespread attacks on non-Christians in Ethiopia during the 14th and 15th centuries, these Ethiopian Jews used to live entirely in secluded mountain areas in the north of Ethiopia. It was during this time that they got the name of Beta Israel. Prior to this period of persecution, the religious practices of these Ethiopians tended to vary according to region, but in exiling themselves for safety, their practices grew to be more unanimous. As a result of this unity, it became quite clear to see where Ethiopian Judaism had drifted away from its predecessor and in which ways they had managed to preserve their traditions. In observing the Sabbath, practicing circumcision, following the necessary dietary requirements and attending the synagogue regularly, their loyalty to convention was made unquestionable. This was of keen importance during the 1980's, when Ethiopia underwent a tragic time of famine, as a significant number of Beta Israel fled the disaster to go back to Israel.

'Operation Moses' and 'Operation Solomon' were two evacuation attempts which collectively saw approximately 20,000 Ethiopians being taken to Israel during the famine. The large majority of these Ethiopians were Beta Israel. An estimated 80,000 Ethiopian Jews were believed to have gone to Israel outside of the evacuation operations. This swiftly called for debates into whether or not these Africans could be regarded as Jews. Accepting them, the Israeli government adhered to the law of return which allowed all Jewish people to enter Israel as immigrants and gain citizenship from there. This left only a minority of Beta Israel in the harsh conditions of late 20th century Ethiopia. For those who had managed to find a new famine-free home, without worries of the war which was happening in Ethiopia, this seemed like a blessing. Yet, as with most instances of mass immigration, a serious response awaited.

Gal Gabbay, an investigative journalist, decided to look into the drastic decline in Ethiopian Jewish birth rates during the early 2000's. The government had previously denied any involvement with the phenomenon, but in 2013, they confessed to attempting to eradicate Beta Israel by forcing their women to take birth control injections without telling them what they were being given. Depro Provera, the drug that these women were forced to take, is extremely powerful and long-lasting. One Ethiopian woman is quoted as saying 'We took it every three months. We said we didn't want to'. Haaretz, a middle-Eastern news company,  published an excerpt from a letter written by the ministry of health. It said that doctors were told 'not to renew prescriptions for Depro Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if for any reason there is concern that they might not understand the ramifications of the treatment'. Hopefully, this letter was honest and this practice has stopped, but even so, the act of a government-sanctioned genocide attempt is still a concern for the institutional racism against Ethiopian Jews in Israel.