Disappointment as Israel only approves immigration for 1,000 Ethiopian Jews

The Israeli government has agreed to absorb a thousand Ethiopian Jews, accepting just a fraction of the African country's 8,000 remaining Jews who want to move to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Monday that a special committee had agreed to allow community members who already have children in Israel to immigrate.

It was not clear what will happen to the remaining 7,000 people.

Alisa Bodner, a spokeswoman for Israel's Ethiopian community, called Netanyahu's decision an "incredible disappointment".

The reunification of hundreds of families split between the two countries was put on hold earlier this year after Israel failed to set aside funding for Ethiopian immigration in next year's budget.

Netanyahu's government agreed in 2015 to bring the remaining Ethiopians to Israel, the families allege discrimination. 

Many of the 8,000 are practicing Jews and have relatives in Israel, but the country doesn't consider them Jewish under strict religious law, meaning their immigration requires special approval.

Ethiopian Jews have long been known to have suffered extensive discrimination inside Israel.

Racist policies, such as forcing Ethiopian women to be injected with contraceptives, destroying blood donated by Ethiopians, and brutal police practices have been used against the community over the years and were recently made public.

Israel's "Law of Return" - passed in 1950 - grants every Jew in the world the right to settle in Israel.

Israel denies the right of return to Palestinian refugees whose descendants fled or were forcibly expelled during the creation of the Israeli state in 1948.