Two hundred and fifty members of India’s Bnei Menashe tribe immigrated to Israel last night, arriving at around 2.45am local time.
Members of one of the so-called lost tribes arrived in Tel Aviv-Yafo Airport from New Delhi. According to the Jerusalem Post, they will now have to quarantine and adjust to their new home, before moving to Nof Hagalil in northern Israel.
The Bnei Menashe – or “sons of Manasseh” – claim to be descended from Jews exiled from the Assyrian Empire over 2,700 years ago. They eventually settled on the border between what is now India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel historically did not consider the Bnei Menashe to be Jewish. But in March 2005, Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar recognised them as being descended from one of the sons of Joseph.
