More than 300 Ethiopian Jews landed in Israel on Thursday – the first wave of 2,000 members of the Falash Mura community that the government approved for immigration amid controversy in the Jewish state.

The new immigrants arrived on an Ethiopian Airlines flight to a festive ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport, where many of them waved flags and kissed the ground as Hebrew songs blared over loudspeakers.

Although the Ethiopians are of Jewish descent and many practice the religion, Israel does not consider them Jewish under religious law.

Instead, they were allowed to enter the country under a family-unification program that requires special government approval.

The Falash Mura are descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity — many under duress – during the 18th and 19th centuries, according to Agence France-Presse.

The Israeli government originally approved about 9,000 claimants in 2015 but then rescinded the decision the following year, citing budgetary constraints.

The bulk of Ethiopia’s Jewish community arrived in Israel between 1984 and 1991 under the Law of Return, which guarantees Israeli citizenship to all Jews.

Pnina Tamano-Shata, the country’s first Ethiopian-born Cabinet minister, traveled to Ethiopia to join the immigrants on the flight.

At the welcoming ceremony, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “My wife Sara and myself were standing there with tears in our eyes. This is the essence of our Jewish story, the essence of the Zionist story.”

The remaining roughly 1,700 Falash Mura members are expected to arrive by the end of January, according to the immigration plan approved by Netanyahu’s cabinet in October.

Activists have accused Jerusalem of dragging its feet in implementing the 2015 decision to bring all remaining Ethiopians of Jewish lineage to Israel within five years.

The Ethiopian Aliyah, a group promoting family unification, estimates that about 7,000 Ethiopian Jews remain behind in Ethiopia, some of whom have been waiting for years to join their relatives.

“Once again, the government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided to place quotas on the immigration of Jews from Ethiopia,” said Muket Fenta, who has been fighting for more than 10 years to bring his aunt to Israel.

“The government is celebrating a few hundred immigrants from Ethiopia, while thousands were supposed to be here and are still left behind while their fate is in question,” he said.

The Ethiopian-Israeli community has grown to 140,000-strong, including 50,000 born in Israel.

Many say they have faced racial discrimination, including abuse by Israel’s police, despite serving honorably in the Israel Defense Forces.

With Post wires