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WORLD NEWS Monday 23 april 2018

Israeli minister vows to help

Ethiopian Jews move to Israel

By MICHAEL ATSBEHA ed to be her first official visit nity head of Ethiopia's Jews
Associated Press to Africa, said she came to in Addis Ababa.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia find out more about the sit- In an emotional speech,
(AP) — Israel's Justice minis- uation of Ethiopia's estimat- Sidisto reaffirmed that
ter vowed to help Ethiopia's ed 8,000 remaining Jews. members of Ethiopia's Jew-
Jews immigrate to Israel as Members of the Ethiopian ish population plan to stage
soon as possible during a Jews who attended the a mass hunger strike should
rare visit to Ethiopia. meeting told her that they Israel fail to reunite them Members of Ethiopia's Jewish community listen as Israel's Jus-
Ayelet Shaked visited the want to move to Israel, with their families soon. tice Minister Ayelet Shaked speaks during a visit to a synagogue
synagogue in Addis Ababa where many family mem- "We are unhappy here. We in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Sunday, April 22, 2018.
on Sunday. bers moved years ago. have had enough here. If Associated Press
"These programs that will They said they want "aliya," our situation is not resolved
eventually reunite Ethiopi- the Hebrew term for the im- in a very short time, we will moved to Israel. teen years I have missed
an Jews with their families migration of Jews in other hold a momentous mass Tigabu Worku, one of the them. Eighteen years I have
in Israel are not generally parts of the world to Israel. hunger strike that will help synagogue's most active waited to see their faces
easy," said Shaked to the "We know aliyah for Jews us present our voice to Isra- members, read a letter to that I no longer remember."
group gathered in the syn- that are descendants in el and the world," he said. Shaked in which he com- Ethiopia’s Falashmuras are
agogue. other countries happened The Ethiopian Jews met plained that he has been believed to be descen-
"But I will try everything with- so swiftly that sometimes with Shaked in the small separated from his fam- dants of one of the Ten
in my power to work with even their dogs were also hall decorated with Israeli ily for years. "I have been Lost Tribes of ancient Israel.
relevant offices to make included as they moved to flags and scriptures. Some torn from my younger sis- Ethiopia’s Jewish people
this happen in the shortest Israel. Are we less important said they have been sep- ters Leah and Sarah for 18 mainly live in the Amhara
time possible," she said. than these dogs?" asked arated for decades from years," said Tigabu. "Eigh- and Tigray provinces.q
Shaked, on what is report- Meles Sidisto, the commu- close family members who

World's oldest person dies

in Japan at age of 117

TOKYO (AP) — The world's eo on Japanese television
oldest person, a 117-year- showed Tajima moving her
old Japanese woman, has hands to the beat of music
died. played on traditional Japa-
Nabi Tajima died in a hospi- nese instruments at a cere-
tal Saturday evening in the mony to mark the achieve-
town of Kikai in southern Ja- ment.
pan, town official Susumu Tajima's town of Kikai is a
Yoshiyuki said. She had small island of about 7,000
been hospitalized since people halfway between
January. Okinawa and Kyushu, the
Tajima, born on Aug. 4, southernmost of Japan's
1900, was the last known four main islands.
person born in the 19th cen- The U.S.-based Gerontol- This Sept. 2015 photo shows
Nabi Tajima, the world's oldest
tury. She raised seven sons ogy Research Group says person, a 117-year-old Japa-
and two daughters and that another Japanese nese woman.
reportedly had more than woman, Chiyo Miyako, is Associated Press
160 descendants, including now the world's oldest per-
great-great-great grand- son. Miyako lives in Kana- sazo Nonaka of northern
children. She became the gawa prefecture, south Japan as the world's oldest
world's oldest person after of Tokyo, and turns 117 on man earlier this month, and
the death in September of May 2. was planning to recognize
Violet Brown of Jamaica, Guinness World Records Tajima as the world's oldest
also at the age of 117. Vid- certified 112-year-old Ma- person.q