Jews in Ethiopia have threatened to stage a mass hunger strike if the Israeli government slashes immigration funding intended to help them reunite with their relatives in Israel, the The Associated Press reports.

The backdrop: Israel airlifted about 14,500 Ethiopian Jews in 1991 during a civil war in Ethiopia, and in 2015 it vowed to bring remaining Ethiopian Jews to join their relatives, the AP reports. But that effort has been reportedly stalled. Per the AP, there are about 8,000 Jews in Ethiopia who have relatives in Israel.