Zionist from India

Jerusalem Post:

For Arbi Khiangte, Monday evening's regularly scheduled El Al flight out of Bombay was far more than just an eight-hour long trek across the ocean.

Born and raised in the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram, which straddles Burma and Bangladesh, the striking 21-year-old is a member of the Bnei Menashe, a group that traces its ancestry back to a lost tribe of Israel.

Since childhood, Khiangte has dreamed of moving to the land of her ancestors, the Land of Israel.

With a bright and infectious smile beaming with optimism, she told me of her strong desire to take part in building the country.

...

The excitement in the air was palpable, despite the late hour and the obvious exhaustion that everyone clearly felt. The immigrants had left their hotel near the seashore at 4:30 p.m. in order to allow enough time for their bus to crawl its way through Bombay's daunting rush-hour traffic.

More than two hours later, they arrived at the airport, where they had to make their way through security, check-in and passport control before boarding the flight at around 11:00 p.m.

It had been a long and tiring afternoon, but that didn't stop Gavriel Joram, an energetic 14 year old, from joking around with some of his fellow Bnei Menashe, lightening the mood for all those present.

Previously, in a somewhat more serious frame of mind, Gavriel had shared with me his hopes and dreams for the future.

"I want to be a soldier, and to defend the country," he told me, the earnestness in his voice moving me deeply.

"I love Israel," he said, without a hint of the cynicism or sarcasm to which we in the West have become so accustomed.

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... the Bnei Menashe trace their ancestry back to Menashe, one of the 10 tribes of Israel exiled by the Assyrians some 27 centuries ago (2700 years ago).

Despite wandering in exile for so long, they managed to preserve a strong sense of pride and Jewish identity, keeping Shabbat, following the laws of family purity, circumcising newborn males on the eighth day and passing down across the generations a deeply held belief that they would one day go home again to Zion.

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There is more on this most unusual group of Zionist. The President of Iran should note that this migration had nothing to do with the holocaust. Nor does it have anything to do with western imperialism. But, to him it just some more humans to wipe off the map because of his religious bigotry.