Like thousands of others who endured the hardships of aliyah during Operation Moses, Dessie (Roni) Akale crossed Ethiopia by foot, walking 800 kilometers, then waited in Sudan until finally reaching Jerusalem in December 1983 at the age of 20.

Roni obtained a BA in Social Work from Haifa University in 1990, and later went on to obtain an MA in Management and Public Policy Administration from Ben Gurion University.  He holds additional training experience in the realms of educational leadership and non-profit management.

Roni served as a Mental Health officer in the Israel Defense Forces. He played a critical role during Operation Solomon in May 1991, applying his personal and professional experience to assist the newcomers during this historical airlift in which 14,325 Ethiopian Jews were brought to Israel in 36 hours.

Roni brings rich professional experience to the role of Director-General. He was Manager of the nation-wide network of “moked klitah” service centers for immigrants on behalf of the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, overseeing 21 cities and towns. He served as a family social worker in the municipality of Ashdod, and was the Director of Ethiopian Job Placement and Counseling with the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption.  In addition, he has carried out a wide variety of volunteer roles and has served in myriad leadership positions in his rich career of aiding the Ethiopian-Israeli community with his expertise, including being elected as Chairman of the Representatives of Ethiopian Jewish Organizations in Israel between 2008 to 2010. 

Roni, 47, concluded his post as the Chief Executive Officer of FIDEL Association for Education and Social Integration of Ethiopian Jews in Israel, which he has held since 2007, to assume the role of Director-General of ENP in April 2011.

Roni lives in Ashdod, is married and father of four sons.  

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Amir Tewabe
Director of Operations

Amir Tewabe made aliya in 1984. He left Ethiopia at the age of 13 with his brother and sister, walking the arduous journey to Sudan, where the siblings spent time in a refugee camp. Their parents joined the children a year later in Israel. The family lived in Safed, and Amir later attended boarding school and then an agricultural
school where he attained a full matriculation certificate.

Amir served in the Israeli Air Force as a commander, and was trained for and carried out air operations with helicopters. During his air force career, he received special recognition as an outstanding soldier. Today, in the reserves, he commands 100 soldiers.  In 1994, 1996 and 1997, Amir was sent to Ethiopia by the government of Israel to assist in the aliya of the remaining Ethiopian Jewish community. During his time in the Addis Ababa compound, Amir taught Judaism, and aided in compiling the lists of
those eligible for aliya.

Amir obtained his BA in Political Science and Israel Studies from the University of Haifa in 1996. After obtaining his BA, Amir worked for five years with the Ministry of Education’s Steering Committee for Ethiopian Immigrants. He later returned to academia, receiving an MA in Public Administration from the University of Tel Aviv. In 2001, after an intensive selection process, Amir was chosen to work at Yemin Orde, a boarding school renowned for its preparation of young Ethiopian-Israelis for success in Israeli society. There, he managed the organizational, educational and social components of a class of 150 students during their studies from tenth to twelfth grades. Amir also volunteered as a liaison between Ethiopian-Israeli soldiers who were sentenced to jail during their army service, bridging the rift between the soldiers, their parents and the IDF.

Today, Amir Tewabe serves as the Director of Operations of the Ethiopian National Project. In this capacity, he promotes ENP’s programs nationwide, serving as a liaison between local service providers and national management while ensuring superior programs and successful execution of projects.

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Grace Rodnitzki
Director of International Relations

Grace works closely with field workers and professionals in Israel, delving into the critical day-to-day work they carry out so that she can illustratively tell ENP's story.
In her capacity as ENP’s Director of International Relations, she shares her in-depth
knowledge of the amazing potential and the compelling need of Ethiopian-Israelis with individual donors, foundations and federations.

Grace hails from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. She has felt a calling to inform others about Israel’s uniqueness since her youth, when she was actively involved on the regional and international levels of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization. Grace received a B.A. in Politics from Brandeis University in 1990, and studied a year abroad at Oxford University. Following her undergraduate career, while a Raoul Wallenberg Fellow at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she witnessed first hand the miraculous Ethiopian airlifts and the massive emigration from the Soviet Union, and endured the insecurity of living in Israel during the Gulf War.

In 1992, Grace was invited to Australia to study and lecture as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, traveling the continent and speaking about her experiences in Israel. She returned to Israel in May 1993, herself a new immigrant. Grace then worked for over seven years as an International Relations Associate at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Jerusalem.

Grace Rodnitzki lives in Modi’in, Israel with her husband and three children.

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