The African-Americans Who Made Israel Their Home

Black Hebrews (2008): Watch the story of African-Americans who immigrated to Israel in the sixties

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Meet the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem. They emigrated from the US in the sixties in search of their spiritual home. They found it in Israels Negev desert.

Their leader, Ben Ammi Ben Israel was a bus driver when he had a vision: ‘The angel Gabriel did come to bring the word of God that it was time to start returning back to the promised land and to establish the long awaited kingdom of God.’ At first, Black Hebrews were welcome by their hosts. Then relations soured when they refused to convert to Judaism. ‘We just saw it as another group of Europeans dictating to us, who we were, what we could do and what we could not do.’ Polygamous and vegan, their unusual lifestyle sets them apart from their Jewish neighbours. Israelis shunned them for decades, until a Palestinian attack in 2002 killed six people including the first Black Hebrew to have been born in Israel. The shared tragedy brought them together with the rest of the country. Since then, they have been made permanent residents. ‘It was an awakening on the part of the government’ says the victim’s father. Their children now fight for Israel. ‘We are not neutral when it comes to the state of Israel. We would do whatever is necessary to defend Israel.’ They feel that, at last, they’ve been welcomed home.

ABC Australia – Ref. 4257

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