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I'm always fascinated by the unique story of Beta Israel or the Ethiopian Jews.

Theirs is the blending of two distinct cultures, one from the Horn of Africa and the other from the ancient tribe of Israel.

They are said to be descendants of King Solomon of biblical times and the enigmatic Queen of Sheba.

Legend has it that the Queen of Sheba romantically linked to the biblical King Solomon was from a kingdom in Ethiopia.

The real Queen of Sheba, who was likely dark-skinned was very different from the Hollywood version of her in the 1959 movie "Solomon and Sheba" starring the famous Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida. 😉
Most people believe that today's Ethiopian Jews or "Beta Israel" are descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba in the bible. They were mostly living in Ethiopia but also in neighboring Eritrea and Sudan until 1977.

According to Ethiopian tradition, the Ark of the Covenant is currently located in Ethiopia, specifically within the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in the city of Axum, where it is believed to be guarded by a single guardian and is not accessible to the general public. This claim is based on the legend that the Queen of Sheba's son, Menelik I, brought the Ark to Ethiopia from Jerusalem

Ethiopian Jews were found to derive 80% of their DNA from an East African component but also carried some Canaanite-like ancestry.

In 1977, Israel decided these Jews qualified for Israel's Law of Return, a "jus sanguinis" - based birthright immigration law. As a result, more of these African Jews migrated to Israel with Israel conducting large military operations to bring them to Israel.

One such operation was "Operation Solomon," a covert operation in 1991 that airlifted more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews over the course of 36 hours.

Today, most of the Ethiopian Jews live in Israel, around 160,000 of them, while some 12,000 still live in Ethiopia and a thousand in the US.