ISRAEL FLYING EMISSARIES OUT OF GONDAR AMID ETHNIC VIOLENCE:
Posted onIsrael's embassy in Addis Ababa, as well as the Jewish Agency, are working on plans to fly a group of Israelis holed up in a building in Gondar out of the city, marred by ethnic tensions that took 10 lives on Tues. 12 July 2016. Some 6,000 Jews live in Gondar and there is currently a delegation of 23 Jewish agency emissaries there. According to a Foreign Ministry spokesman, they are presently in a secure and guarded building. In addition there are an undetermined number of Israeli tourists believed to be in the region. Ethnic fighting recently broke out between the Amhara and Tigray groups when armed forces from the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) entered Gondar, a city with a majority Amhara population, early Tues. morning. The forces have since arrested prominent local political lobbyists and have been accused of committing massacres. Latest reports reflect that the Jewish Agency emissaries are safe in the Gondar airport, waiting for flight out. (J.Post) Pray for the safety of the Jewish community in Gondar, for the emissaries on their way out of the troubled area, and for tourists endangered by the violence. Pray for quiet to be restored.