The Indian ‘lost tribe’ that wants to move to Israel, even ‘fight Hamas’
Al Jazeera
A small community in northeast India is trying to move to Israel, where they say their roots lie.
Aizawl, India – Joseph Haokip, an undergraduate student in Manipur, is excited at the thought of going to Israel. He is ready to join the Israeli army to fight Hamas in a war in which Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza has killed more than 26,000 people, mostly women and children.
The 20-year-old and his family have recently returned to their home in the Kangpokpi district of Manipur after five months in the neighbouring state of Mizoram where they had fled when an ethnic conflict broke out in Manipur last year.
“I stayed in a makeshift camp with the other members of the Bnei Menashe community since August last year and have just returned a few days ago. But I want to go to Israel and connect with my lost tribe. I also want to join the [Israeli army] and help them in fighting against Hamas because I belong from that land,” Haokip told Al Jazeera.
Rafael Khiangte, 37, a taxi driver in Aizawl, Mizoram’s capital, wants to move to Israel along with his wife and toddler to connect with his ancestral roots and reunite with his mother.
Khiangte’s mother Sarah Pachuau, 58, relocated to Israel along with her brother in 1993. “I belong from the lost tribe and want to stay with my mother and also provide a better future to my daughter … I want to reunite with the land from where we got separated over 2,700 years ago,” Khiangte said.
