AIZWAL (Mizoram, India): A group of more than 250 Indian citizens from the state of Manipur, claiming ancestry from a biblical “lost tribe,” landed in Tel Aviv on Thursday. This marks the beginning of a large-scale government operation to relocate members of the Bnei Menashe community from the Indians state of Manipur and Mizoram to Israel. Estimates of the number of Bnei Menashe community members in Manipur and Mizoram vary, from 4,000 and going up to 10,000.
These citizens were received at the David Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv by Israeli Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer with blue and white balloons and traditional Jewish hymns. These citizens represent the first wave of a renewed effort to bring the entire community to Israel at a rate of roughly 1,200 individuals every year. The effort is expected to continue until 2030.
Sofer described the event as a “historic moment,” saying, “This is the beginning of an operation that will allow the entire community to immigrate.” These individuals are the first groups of thousands of others who will be brought to Israel by the Israeli government under its Operation Wings of Dawn (or ‘Kanfei Shachar’ in Hebrew).
Bnei Menashe means “Sons of Manasseh”. They believe they are descendants of one of the ten tribes exiled by the Assyrian Empire in 720 BC. They claim they migrated over centuries across Persia, Afghanistan, China and Tibet before settling in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur. They belong to the Mizo, Kuki and Chin tribes in Manipur and Mizoram. Many converted to Christianity in the 19th century, but the community has long maintained unique oral traditions and religious practices linked to Judaism, such as Sabbath observance.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Integration, these 250 individuals will settle in northern Israel and will undergo a formal conversion process to obtain full Israeli citizenship.
In 2005, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel is said to have recognized them as ‘Lost Seed of Israel’ (although this claim is disputed). Approximately 4,000 members of the tribe have already moved to Israel since the 1990s. It is estimated that another 7,000 to 9,000 more in India are now awaiting relocation.
The Bnei Menashe have come to believe that their ancestor Manmasi was the Hebrew Manasseh or Menashe, the first son of Joseph (an important Hebrew figure in the Bible). During the 1950s, one of the community leaders claimed to have had vision that this group was descendants of an Israeli tribe.
The migration comes at a sensitive time for Manipur, which has been impacted by ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities since 2023. Results of DNA testing of the group’s ancestry have been inconclusive. There has also been some controversy over claims of their recognition as a lost tribe of Israel.
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