Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined a ceremony for Ethiopian Jews who perished on their way to Israel Thursday at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu met with the senior religious leaders of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel for the important gathering.

The kesim raised several urgent issues with the prime minister, including a shortage of positions, a shortage of synagogues for the community and relocating Jews still in Ethiopia to Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed Prime Minister’s Office Director General Yossi Shelley to evaluate the possibility of rendering assistance in conjunction with the Religious Services Ministry and the Aliyah and Integration Ministry.

“I want you to know that you have a channel of communication via MK Tsega Maleku and PMO Director General Shelley; we are in favor of resolving these problems. We have proven this in the past and together we will prove it again. This is important,” he stated.

“I am very moved when I sit on Mt. Herzl and hear these stories; it is very hard. The heart breaks; it is not a show. It is very important to me. I have said this and I want to say it again here: It is of utmost importance that all Israeli children know this story. It is important because it is about the Jews of Ethiopia and because it is the essence of the return to Zion and of our revival,” he added.

Netanyahu also emphasized the importance of the bond with Ethiopian Jews in Israel.

“I am always pleased to see you and I very much appreciate the fact that it is precisely in the community about which it was said that the faith has lapsed, that they have all fled from Judaism, I am pleased to see that it is not so. This is important,” he said.

Also participating in the meeting were MK Tsega Maleku, nine kesim and Zera Aharon¬ non-profit association Chairman Samai Elias, according to the statement from the prime minister’s office.