On Thursday, 240 members of the Bnei Menashe community from Manipur and Mizoram, India, arrived at Tel Aviv airport as part of a state-backed program aimed at relocating them to Israel. This initiative, approved in November 2022, seeks to facilitate the immigration of around 6,000 individuals from this community, who claim descent from the ancient tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Since the 1990s, approximately 4,000 Bnei Menashe have already settled in Israel, with an estimated 7,000 still in India. The Israeli government plans to bring in 1,200 members annually, with the recent arrivals expected to settle in northern Israel. Israeli Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer described this event as a “historic moment,” emphasizing its significance for community integration and demographic development in Israel. However, the community's historical claims have not been universally accepted by mainstream historians. Their migration is also influenced by ongoing ethnic tensions in Manipur, where clashes between the Hindu Meitei majority and the Christian Kuki community have resulted in over 250 deaths in recent years.