Israel clears path for India’s ‘lost tribe’ to complete migration by 2030 under new government plan

In November last year, the cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a plan to facilitate the immigration of Bnei Menashe community from India by 2030. The programme has allocated $27 million to cover flights, Hebrew training, housing, integration support and formal conversion to Judaism where required.

Under the five-year plan, migrants will be settled mainly in the Galilee region in northern Israel. The move formally recognises the community and clears the path for citizenship.

According to a report by The Times of India, for over two decades, W L Hangshing, a retired Indian Revenue Service officer from Manipur, has waited to migrate to Israel. At 68, the Kuki-Zo leader hopes to “make aliyah" a Hebrew term meaning migration to Israel, marking what he calls a spiritual return rather than a career move.


Hangshing is among nearly 5,800 members of the Bnei Menashe community living in Manipur and Mizoram. The group identifies itself as descendants of one of Israel’s 10 lost tribes.

Settlement and livelihood

As per TOI report, the Israeli Ministry of Immigration and Absorption will handle the entry and resettlement process. Hangshing said language training is the first step. “Without Hebrew, you cannot find a job.” Authorities assess skills and place migrants accordingly, whether in trades such as carpentry or in academic institutions.

Many Bnei Menashe families choose to live in areas with lower costs, including regions near the Gaza border or Hebron. Responding to criticism that they are pushed to the margins, Hangshing said affordability shapes these decisions. “They can’t afford land in Tel Aviv. Even a single room there is beyond reach,” TOI reported. Some families have settled in the Negev desert, where agricultural work provides income. Miriam Winchester Zoluti, who moved to Israel in 2020, said several migrants who once farmed paddy fields in Mizoram now work in factories, earning a minimum of 34 shekels an hour.

First phase of migration

Migration of the community began in the 1980s when Rabbi Eliyahu Avichayil facilitated the relocation of small groups who converted to Judaism and became Israeli citizens. Earlier efforts were supported by organisations such as Shavei Israel. The current phase will be handled directly by the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency in coordination with Indian authorities. Nearly 5,000 Bnei Menashe already live in Israel.

Hangshing, who heads the Bnei Menashe Council of India, said about 1,200 people have been cleared for migration in 2026, with others expected to follow in phases. Nearly 3,000 applications were screened, with priority given to families divided between India and Israel. “My uncles are in Israel, and my father is buried there,” Hangshing told TOI,. “But I don’t have a first-degree relative who is currently living there.”

His father, Aviel (Tong-khohao) Hangshing, a former Manipur government commissioner, migrated to Israel in 2014 at the age of 80 and remained there until his death in 2021. “People asked what he would do there at that age. He said he wanted to be buried in the Holy Land. Like Hindus wanting to spend their last days in Varanasi.”

Historical claim and screening

The Bnei Menashe trace their roots to the tribe of Manasseh, one of the 10 tribes believed to have dispersed after the Assyrian invasion of the Kingdom of Israel in the 8th century BCE. The community says it preserved elements of Jewish tradition over centuries.

“There is a difference between displaced Jews and the lost tribes,” Hangshing said. “The Jewish Agency was created for Jews who were scattered, not for tribes that disappeared.” He added, “Without funding from the Israeli govt, there was no formal recognition of the Bnei Menashe as one of Israel’s lost tribes. We had been lobbying for years. The Jewish Agency recognised us, the rabbis recognised us, but govt policy was not there. In Nov last year, the govt finally did.”

On the selection process, Hangshing said applicants do not apply independently. “There is already a census. We have synagogues — 28 in Manipur and four in Mizoram — that maintain lists of members and families.” He said final approval takes place in Israel after further review. He also ruled out genetic testing, stating, “There is no such thing as DNA matching in this context… There is no fixed benchmark.”

(With inputs from TOI)