250 Indians from “lost tribe” brought to Israel

TT 

Published 2026-04-23 23.17

         

         People belonging to the Bnei Menashe group in a synagogue in Manipur in northeastern India                     before  moving to Israel in December 2012. Photo: Anupam Nath/AP/TT

More than 250 Indians who consider themselves to be part of Israel’s ten “lost tribes” have arrived in Tel Aviv – as part of a government effort to relocate them to Israel.

The people are the first from the Bnei Menashe group to arrive in Israel since the government decided in November to finance the immigration of about 4,600 members of the group from the state of Manipur in northeastern India. They were welcomed with traditional Jewish singing.

The group claims descent from Manasseh, the ancestor of one of Israel’s biblical “lost tribes.”

About 4,000 of the group have already immigrated to Israel since the 1990s, according to an organization that seeks to trace the lost tribes. About 7,000 still live in India.