'2,700 year old tribe of Israel' returns home

About 50 Jews from a group of thousands in India that believes it is one of the 10 "lost tribes" of Israel landed here recently, fulfilling for many a life-long dream of returning to what they consider their homeland. "I truly believe this is a miracle of immense historical and even biblical significance," Michael Freund, chairman of Shavei Israel, the organization leading the charge for the return of the tribe. "Just as the prophets foretold so long ago, the lost tribes of Israel are being brought back from the exile," Freund said. For a decade, Freund's group has been working to facilitate the immigration to Israel of the Bnei Menashe, about 7,000 Indian citizens who believe they are the descendants of Manasseh, one of biblical patriarch Joseph's two sons, and a grandson of Jacob. The tribe lives in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, to which they claim to have been exiled from Israel more than 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire.