‘Lost Tribe’ Denied Visas by Israel

CALCUTTA, India — About 4,300 tribal people in northeastern India who claim to be Jews are becoming increasingly restive because of Israel’s refusal to grant visas to these alleged descendants of one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel.

Israeli Rabbi Eliezer Avihail, head of the Amisha organization which tries to help Jews immigrate to Israel, has visited the self-proclaimed Indian Jews in Mizoram and Manipur at least four times in the past decade. He has helped the community, collectively known as Mizo Jews, to build synagogues and supplies its members with literature on Judaism.

In 1983 the Mizo Jews appealed to then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin for recognition and assistance to “return home” but to little effect. Four Mizos did go to Israel, but the Jewish Agency is not convinced of the genuineness of the group’s claim to be descendants of one of the lost tribes.

Of the 12 tribes of Israel that were scattered after the Assyrian victory in 721 BC, the descendants of only two returned. Those of the other 10 became assimilated in the populations of their host countries.