African Jews denied citizenship after years living in Israel

JVL Introduction

Many visitors to this website may be surprised that we are sharing this blog from The Times of Israel but it highlights that even when Black people are fully engaged in Israeli society, even including participation in the Military, that will not necessarily mean they have any citizenship status in Israeli society or necessarily protect them from deportation.

The community of African Hebrews is tiny, initially welcomed into Israel, their “right to return” was retrospectively stripped in 1970 shortly after their arrival.

Campaigners against deportation of members of this community note the different treatment of 400,000 non Jews arriving from the USSR.  Only racism can explain this.

The Minister of the Interior (equivalent to our Home Secretary) sees no reason to change the current policy that “unapologetically discriminates against the African Hebrew community on the basis that its members constitute a foreign presence in the State of Israel.” that, according to a lawyer from the Israeli Immigration Policy Center, “presents a problem to the social fabric of the society.” As the article says, “this characterization of the African Hebrews as an adverse, outside, or foreign presence is not based on the facts, or on this community’s contribution to society”.

Now we could say more about a passing resemblance to the Windrush scandal (compensation for which is long overdue for most affected, dozens of whom have died); and we certainly note the echoes within the proposals in the Nationality and Borders Bill (especially Clause 9 on Citizenship); and, of course, this article and, indeed, the campaign, fails to draw lessons for the treatment of Palestinians.

It is clearly an example of racism within Israel and is also a long way from what we have learned from centuries of persecution of Jews and needs to be more widely known.

This article was originally published by Times of Israel on Tue 18 Jan 2022. Read the original here.

For African Hebrews, the deportation nightmare continues

In a decision that smacks of discrimination, Israel is set to expel 135 members of the community, most of whom were born here and have relatives that served in the IDF

For eight months the small community of African Hebrews in Israel has been engaged in a bureaucratic battle with the Ministries of Interior and Immigration to prevent the deportation of 7% of their community members. One-hundred and thirty-five people, 70% of whom are minors who were born in Israel, many of whom have relatives that have served or currently serve in the Israeli military, 51 of whom are facing the threat of immediate expulsion from their homes, and all of whom are lacking official status in Israel. After consistent appeals on local media outlets, endless hours of lobbying politicians in the Knesset, and direct negotiations with the Ministry of Interior itself, Minister Ayelet Shaked has made it clear that “there is no room to change the presiding policy that has been in place thus far.”

What policy, you ask? One that unapologetically discriminates against the African Hebrew community on the basis that its members constitute a foreign presence in the State of Israel. To quote attorney Yona Sherki from the Israeli Immigration Policy Center, “(this community, like minority communities in Europe) presents a problem to the social fabric of the society.” Setting aside the palpable animosity expressed by these words, it is indisputable that this characterization of the African Hebrews as an adverse, outside, or foreign presence is not based on the facts, or on this community’s contribution to society.

In the 53 years since the first African Hebrews were welcomed with open arms and granted citizenship under the Law of Return (only for it to be retroactively stripped in 1970), the “threat” posed by this community to Israeli society has manifested in the following manner: the highest rate of enlistment in the Israeli military, multiple representatives sent to represent Israeli society in the Eurovision competition, and consistent efforts to confront anti-Israel propaganda on the international stage by its community members.

Yet, despite this record of service and contribution, the African Hebrew community has been targeted with repeated bouts of deportation (1973, 1986) because, as far as the government is concerned, the community isn’t Jewish. The fact that this community immigrated to Israel explicitly because of their identification with the Hebrew nation, from which the Jewish people hail, should have been a source of inspiration for negotiations and for the parties to find a meaningful solution. Instead, it has served as the source of animus for rejecting the African Hebrews. An animus that is most often justified by conflating the African Hebrew community with extremist Hebrew Israelite groups in the US. In virtually every way imaginable, the African Hebrew community has not only distinguished itself ideologically from the aforementioned groups, but has demonstrated their aspiration to live as an integral part of Israeli Jewish society. For all of these reasons, the unreasonable approach to their unique circumstances is particularly discriminatory in light of the broader picture of Israeli demographics.

Notably, not being considered Jewish hasn’t prevented these same ministries from providing for the immigration and accommodation of more than 400,000 non-Jews from the former USSR. It also hasn’t prevented them from providing official status to hundreds of children of migrant workers from the Philippines. To be clear, this is not a comment on the propriety of the accommodations made to these other two communities, it is just a comment on the obvious and discriminatory different standard, discrimination that is undeniable when you look at the circumstances behind the flexibility provided to the first generation of Phillipino children born in Israel or the pathway to citizenship enshrined in law for those who explicitly do not identify as Jewish/Hebrew from the former Soviet Union. Particularly, when those circumstances are compared to the current attempt to deport multiple generations of African Hebrews who lack status only because of bureaucratic negligence.

This Wednesday, January 19, at 10:00am the African Hebrew community and its allies (were due to) report to the regional court of Beer Sheva as part of the ongoing legal battle against the Ministry of Interior’s discriminatory and callous effort to uproot people from their homes and their community. If you oppose this undertaking by the Ministry of Interior, please let Interior Minister Shaked know on her Facebook page.

 

Comments (6)

  • Doug says:

    The Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem has form on this, we have form in this country with Chief Rabbi’s
    So let’s go with Hate Preachers and let’s get a response from them on this article
    This is a fine example of an article that needs to be published in the MSM and toilet papers
    Let us know who refuses to publish it

    0
    0
  • John Noble says:

    Echoes of the past, who would have thought it possible? We see such here in the UK, excruciating.

    0
    0
  • James Simpson says:

    I know nothing of the so-called “extremist Hebrew Israelite groups in the US”. Could another reader explain?

    0
    0
  • Pauline Fraser says:

    What a disgrace! For anyone who still hadn’t got the message that Israel is an apartheid state, this exposes Israel as racist through and through. I took up the option of messaging the Minister of the Interior. Hope I won’t have the Israeli Embassy on my back!

    0
    0
  • Roland Rance says:

    Wikipedia article about “Hebrew Israelites”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hebrew_Israelites

    0
    0
  • Mary Heath says:

    I can hardly believe this blatant discrimination. So it seems that to be accepted in Israel you have to be the right type of Jewish. After centuries of persecution of Jewish people all over the world and their being marked out as a “different” group, the Israeli government are even treating African Jews as being unacceptable in the modern Israel. What hope for the Palestinians in the face of this type of racism?

    0
    0

Comments are now closed.