H.I.H. Princess Esther Sellassie Antohin,
The Imperial House of Sellassie of The Solomonic Dynasty in The African Diaspora
…I said earlier that the Jewish people are our brothers and sisters. Let me be very specific. In the first place, my family and I are direct descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; we are of the seed of David and of the tribe of Judah. Most of the old nobility of Ethiopia descend from the Jewish courtly counselors King Solomon sent to accompany his first-born son, Menelik I, upon his return home from Jerusalem. In the second place, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, the Haham Bashi Ovadia Yosef, has ruled that our Ethiopian Jewish brothers (the Falashas) are of the tribe of Dan and the overwhelming majority of all Ethiopian Christians descend from our very large early Jewish population. Genetically, as well as spiritually, therefore, when you see the Jews, you see our brothers and sisters and we love them as we love our own family. It is equally written of all of us: "And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation and all these things have come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient unto His voice (for the Lord thy God is a merciful God), He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He swore unto them." (Dt 4: 27 - 31) The House of Sellassie stands in unbroken solidarity with the House of Israel, the Jews, and we will defend them whenever and wherever they are menaced or in danger.
