The African Hebrew Israelites: A Long-Standing Community Facing Deportation from Israel after 50 Years
After decades of living in Israel, dozens of African Hebrew Israelites are facing deportation.
The community, which has been in Israel for over 50 years, consists of around 3,000 members who claim an ancestral connection to the country.
However, about 130 members of the community do not have any formal status in Israel and are now at risk of being deported.
The African Hebrew Israelites first arrived in Israel in the 1960s, and over time, some members have managed to secure citizenship or residency status.
But for those who remain undocumented, the situation is increasingly uncertain.
The community's spiritual leader, Ben Ammi Ben-Israel, had a vision in 1966 that Black descendants of Israelites should "return to the Promised Land and establish the Kingdom of God." After a brief stint in Liberia, Ben-Israel and several families of followers arrived in Israel in 1968.
Despite their long history in the country, the Hebrew Israelites have faced significant challenges.
Some members don't even have foreign passports, and many have spent their entire lives in Israel.
The community's struggle to secure its status has highlighted Israel's strict immigration policy, which grants automatic citizenship to people it considers Jewish but is more restrictive for others.
The African Hebrew Israelites believe they are descendants of the biblical tribes of Israel who, after the Roman conquest in 70 A.D., fled down the Nile and west into the African interior and were ultimately taken as slaves to North America centuries later.
They observe an interpretation of biblical laws formulated by their late founder that includes strict veganism, abstention from tobacco and hard alcohol, fasting on the Sabbath, polygamy, and a ban on wearing synthetic fabrics.
The community's fight to stay in Israel has been ongoing for years.
In 2017, the Israeli government declared the community's status "illegal," and in 2020, it was reported that the community's leaders had reached a deal with the government to allow members to stay in the country in exchange for a large payment.
However, the deal fell through, and the community was subsequently ordered to leave.
A group of African American Hebrew Israelites who settled in Israel in the 1960s and 1970s have been living in legal limbo for years, with many of them facing the threat of deportation.
The community, which is composed of African Americans who believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites, first arrived in Israel under a United Nations agreement that allowed Jews from Africa and Asia to move to Israel.
However, they remained illegal aliens until the early 1990s when they began receiving temporary residency.
A turning point came in 2002, when a Palestinian gunman killed six people at a bat mitzvah party, including a 32-year-old Hebrew Israelite singer who had been performing.
In response, Israel started granting the community members permanent residency.
However, in 2015, about 130 of them without documentation submitted requests for residency rights, claiming that authorities had reneged on earlier promises to legalize their status.
In 2021, the Interior Ministry rejected the requests and issued deportation orders to 49 people.
Four of them left the country, while the remaining 45 appealed.
The majority of the community's members, particularly the younger generation that grew up in Israel, speak Hebrew fluently and many of them serve in the Israeli military or work for Teva Deli, a vegan food manufacturer.
The community also runs a school where its students learn Hebrew and Black history as part of their education.
The community's deepened integration into Israeli society has made the idea of deportation especially painful.
The community leaders had claimed that the individuals subject to deportation had never appeared on lists submitted by Hebrew Israelite leaders and that some had entered Israel recently.
The Interior Ministry's Population and Immigration Authority said that it was not clear why their first requests for residency were only submitted in 2015 or why the community didn't submit requests on behalf of those individuals.
The community recently celebrated New World Passover, a holiday marking the exodus from the United States of the Hebrew Israelites who came to Israel in the 1960s.
The majority of the Village of Peace residents, particularly the younger generation, speak Hebrew fluently and are deeply integrated
However, about 130 members of the community do not have any formal status in Israel and are now at risk of being deported.
The African Hebrew Israelites first arrived in Israel in the 1960s, and over time, some members have managed to secure citizenship or residency status.
But for those who remain undocumented, the situation is increasingly uncertain.
The community's spiritual leader, Ben Ammi Ben-Israel, had a vision in 1966 that Black descendants of Israelites should "return to the Promised Land and establish the Kingdom of God." After a brief stint in Liberia, Ben-Israel and several families of followers arrived in Israel in 1968.
Despite their long history in the country, the Hebrew Israelites have faced significant challenges.
Some members don't even have foreign passports, and many have spent their entire lives in Israel.
The community's struggle to secure its status has highlighted Israel's strict immigration policy, which grants automatic citizenship to people it considers Jewish but is more restrictive for others.
The African Hebrew Israelites believe they are descendants of the biblical tribes of Israel who, after the Roman conquest in 70 A.D., fled down the Nile and west into the African interior and were ultimately taken as slaves to North America centuries later.
They observe an interpretation of biblical laws formulated by their late founder that includes strict veganism, abstention from tobacco and hard alcohol, fasting on the Sabbath, polygamy, and a ban on wearing synthetic fabrics.
The community's fight to stay in Israel has been ongoing for years.
In 2017, the Israeli government declared the community's status "illegal," and in 2020, it was reported that the community's leaders had reached a deal with the government to allow members to stay in the country in exchange for a large payment.
However, the deal fell through, and the community was subsequently ordered to leave.
A group of African American Hebrew Israelites who settled in Israel in the 1960s and 1970s have been living in legal limbo for years, with many of them facing the threat of deportation.
The community, which is composed of African Americans who believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites, first arrived in Israel under a United Nations agreement that allowed Jews from Africa and Asia to move to Israel.
However, they remained illegal aliens until the early 1990s when they began receiving temporary residency.
A turning point came in 2002, when a Palestinian gunman killed six people at a bat mitzvah party, including a 32-year-old Hebrew Israelite singer who had been performing.
In response, Israel started granting the community members permanent residency.
However, in 2015, about 130 of them without documentation submitted requests for residency rights, claiming that authorities had reneged on earlier promises to legalize their status.
In 2021, the Interior Ministry rejected the requests and issued deportation orders to 49 people.
Four of them left the country, while the remaining 45 appealed.
The majority of the community's members, particularly the younger generation that grew up in Israel, speak Hebrew fluently and many of them serve in the Israeli military or work for Teva Deli, a vegan food manufacturer.
The community also runs a school where its students learn Hebrew and Black history as part of their education.
The community's deepened integration into Israeli society has made the idea of deportation especially painful.
The community leaders had claimed that the individuals subject to deportation had never appeared on lists submitted by Hebrew Israelite leaders and that some had entered Israel recently.
The Interior Ministry's Population and Immigration Authority said that it was not clear why their first requests for residency were only submitted in 2015 or why the community didn't submit requests on behalf of those individuals.
The community recently celebrated New World Passover, a holiday marking the exodus from the United States of the Hebrew Israelites who came to Israel in the 1960s.
The majority of the Village of Peace residents, particularly the younger generation, speak Hebrew fluently and are deeply integrated