TEL AVIV (JTA) — Hanoch Haokip’s claim to be descended from one of Israel’s so-called “Lost Tribes,” according to ethnographers and Israeli geneticists who have examined the topic — and even most members of his ethnic group in India — is, at best, highly questionable.
However, Haokip, a member of a small subgroup of indigenous peoples from a distant tribal location in East India, is certain. Haokip, whose organization is known as the Bnei Menashe, spoke out against being “interrogated” by the rabbinate during his formal conversion — or, as he sees it, return — to Judaism during an interview in the northern Israeli town of Akko, where he lives today.
Source: https://www.forward.com/news/israel/343977/indias-jewish-lost-tribe-faces-hard-times-in-israel/
