Aizawl: Jews in India, including members of the Bnei Menashe community in Mizoram and Manipur, will not celebrate Passover this year after Israeli authorities warned of possible terror attacks amid the escalating conflict in West Asia.A Mizo Jewish woman, who had travelled to Mizoram on holiday with her family, told TOI on Monday that they had been stranded in Delhi for a week while trying to return to Israel. She said they would not be able to observe Passover, which begins on April 1, after the Israel Defense Forces advised Jews in India against celebrating the festival because of security threats.“We have been advised by the IDF not to observe the festival of liberation this year due to the warning of terror attacks against the Jews in India and some other countries in view of the conflict between the Israel-US combined forces and Iran,” she said.The conflict has also further delayed the planned migration of Bnei Menashe families from Mizoram and Manipur to Israel.A member of the Bnei Menashe community in Aizawl said the proposed migration of 300 people each from Mizoram and Manipur, originally scheduled for February, had been pushed back again because of the war.“Though the members of the Bnei Menashe community chosen to migrate to the Promised Land have already been finalised by the 9 Jewish rabbis from Israel and the Jewish Agency for Israel, who came to Aizawl for screening during the first part of December last year, the flight plan from Delhi was deferred due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel and now postponed further due to the West Asia conflict,” the community member said. He said the prolonged conflict had made the future uncertain for families waiting to leave.
