Mizo Jews welcome truce
AIZAWL, Aug 13 (PTI): The Mizo Jewish community today welcomed the announcement of cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel by the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan from August 14.Itzhak Colney, spokesperson of the ‘Bnei Menashe’, a Mizo ethnic community in Mizoram and Manipur, who claim to belong to one of the lost tribes of Israel, said, “We are very happy that our countrymen (Israelis) will be able to live in peace and without threats from terrorist attacks”. He said the community would offer prayers for lasting peace in the Middle-East. Around 1,000 Mizos who belong to the Bnei Menashe had yesterday expressed willingness to fight the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorists. Colney, care-taker of Shavei Israel Centre at Upper Republic locality here had voiced the sentiments of the Bnei Menashe community when he said, “We are ready to fight along with our comrades against the terrorists.”Colney embraced Judaism when he was seven years old and was circumcised at the age of nine. He migrated to Israel in 1999 along with his family. He returned to Mizoram to supervise the functioning of the Shavei Israel Centre. The centre is the only one in Mizoram where people who believe that they belong to the lost tribe of Israel, were taught the Hebrew language and imparted training in the religious, cultural and traditional practices of the Jews, thereby preparing them to migrate to Israel. Colney claimed that there are more than one thousand members in Mizoram and majority of them wanted to return to the ‘Holy Land’.
AIZAWL, Aug 13 (PTI): The Mizo Jewish community today welcomed the announcement of cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel by the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan from August 14.Itzhak Colney, spokesperson of the ‘Bnei Menashe’, a Mizo ethnic community in Mizoram and Manipur, who claim to belong to one of the lost tribes of Israel, said, “We are very happy that our countrymen (Israelis) will be able to live in peace and without threats from terrorist attacks”. He said the community would offer prayers for lasting peace in the Middle-East. Around 1,000 Mizos who belong to the Bnei Menashe had yesterday expressed willingness to fight the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorists. Colney, care-taker of Shavei Israel Centre at Upper Republic locality here had voiced the sentiments of the Bnei Menashe community when he said, “We are ready to fight along with our comrades against the terrorists.”Colney embraced Judaism when he was seven years old and was circumcised at the age of nine. He migrated to Israel in 1999 along with his family. He returned to Mizoram to supervise the functioning of the Shavei Israel Centre. The centre is the only one in Mizoram where people who believe that they belong to the lost tribe of Israel, were taught the Hebrew language and imparted training in the religious, cultural and traditional practices of the Jews, thereby preparing them to migrate to Israel. Colney claimed that there are more than one thousand members in Mizoram and majority of them wanted to return to the ‘Holy Land’.