African Hebrew Israelites in Israel

The African Hebrew Israelites in Israel^[a] comprise a new religious movement that is now mainly based in Dimona. Officially self-identifying as the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, they originate from African Americans who immigrated to the State of Israel in the late 1960s. The community claims Israelite descent in line with the philosophy of the Black Hebrew Israelites, who believe that Black people in the United States are descended from the Twelve Tribes of Israel and thus rightfully belong to the Land of Israel. As of 2012^[update], their total population stood at about 5,000 people.^[1]

Believing that they were Jews by blood (i.e., through the Hebrews or Israelites), the community first settled in Liberia, where they were not welcomed by the Liberian government. Later moving to Israel, they were recognized as non-Jews by the Israeli government and by Israeli religious authorities.^[2] A number of the African Hebrew Israelites were illegal immigrants in Israel and were thus deported, prompting allegations from the community that the Israeli government's conduct against them was racist.^[3] Since 2004, however, some African Hebrew Israelites have been granted permanent residency and have enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces.

Many of the community's beliefs were developed on the basis of revelations experienced by African-American steel worker Ben Carter, who claimed that the angel Gabriel had called on him to return his people—the "true" Children of Israel—to what is often referred to as the Holy Land in the Abrahamic religions. Born a Baptist Christian, Carter later changed his name to Ben Ammi Ben-Israel (Hebrew: בן עמי בן-ישראל) and began rallying other African Americans to his cause. He rejected Judaism and Christianity, but asserted that the Jewish Bible was still divine and claimed that Abraham and Moses were Black people, while also perceiving Jesus as one of many messiahs. Some of Carter's statements and the community's beliefs have led to accusations of antisemitism against them: he alleged that there was an international Jewish conspiracy through which the Israeli government maintained control over the Holy Land. Asserting that Black people were the "true inheritors of Israel" suffering under "Euro-gentile dominion" in the United States, Carter stated that Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs in the Holy Land had a false tradition of being descended from Isaac and Ishmael, respectively, and were instead descended from European Crusaders.

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