March 1981.
Footage of the aftermath of the decision by the government of the State of Israel to refuse to grant citizenship to the members of the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, alternatively known as the Black Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, the Black Hebrew Israelites, or in short form as the "Black Hebrews" or "Black Israelites".
Reuters Text from 1981:
The Israeli government is under increasing pressure to solve one of the country's most curious and sensitive problems -- the future of the Black Hebrews, a secretive, polygamous and anti-semitic cult. They have about 1,500 members living illegally in Israel. Led by Ben-Ami Carter, their self-styled "Messiah", the group claims to be the original biblical Israelites whose land was taken unjustly from them by the Jews. A recommendation that the Black Hebrews be granted legal status has been flatly rejected by Israeli Interior Minister Dr. Joseph Burg. Denouncing their anti-semitism he said they'd arrived in Israel with forged documents, masquerading as pilgrims.
Most of the Black Hebrews live at Dimona, an isolated town in the Negev desert, and are mostly black Americans from the ghetto slums of Chicago. They lived in the African state of Liberia for a time before starting a move to Israel eleven years ago. Since then their numbers have grown mysteriously despite an Israeli ban on any more visas.
The anger of local Jewish residents at the continued presence of the Black Hebrews has begun to show. Hundreds have called for their deportation. After a long investigation however, a government committee decided this might cause untold harm to Israel's world reputation.
The group has publicly proclaimed that when Armageddon arrives only 144,000 of God's children will be saved -- all of them Black Hebrews.
After moving into these damaged apartments -- now pleasingly renovated -- the Black Hebrews declared themselves the Holy Land's only genuine inheritors. And they called the Israelis white imposters from Europe.
Black Hebrew leader Ben-Ami Carter was asked by a Visnews reporter why his group had chosen to leave Liberia and settle in Israel:
Mr. Carter, who has three wives and 15 children, has made it clear he has no intention of allowing his followers to convert to Judaism.
Ben-Ami Carter was interviewed:
CARTER: "We were always on our way to Israel. We had to go according to the prophecies of God and that we had to journey through what is called the wilderness of the people to prepare ourselves to enter into Jerusalem. Our fathers when they left out of ancient Egypt did not enter straight into this land, they had to go via the wilderness to purify themselves and to cast out the ways of the decadent society from which they came. We had to do the same thing. We had to go into the wilderness to purify ourselves to prepare ourselves to go up to Jerusalem. This is the only reason that we went via Liberia. The prophecies guided us there and with that period of time and this we continue out our journey to Jerusalem to establish the prophetic kingdom of God."
A local Israeli action group in Dimona has been campaigning against the Black Hebrews. The chairman, Mr. Hanock Platner, was asked about the problem:
REPORTER: "Are you afraid of this group?"
PLATNER: "Afraid? Well...I would say yes. It's not easy to say that you're afraid of anything after you've come as a Jew to this country, you fight for so many years, but I think it is, yes I think I must wait what will happen in another ten or twenty or fifty years, if not to me, to my children. I think all of us think it's time to live in peace, if we can."
Source: Reuters News Archive.
NB.
1. Ben-Ami Carter, who later named himself Ben Ammi Ben-Israel died in 2014 in Be'er Sheva at the age of 75.
2. In 1990, the group was granted tourist status and visas that permitted them to work. Then at the end of 2003, the group was granted permanent residency status by the Israeli Interior Ministry. In 2009, one Elyakim Ben-Israel became the first Black Hebrew to receive Israeli citizenship without converting to Judaism or marrying an Israeli.
3. The Black Hebrew Israelites have integrated into the wider Israeli society because some of its members have joined the Israeli Defence Force, and have represented the State of Israel at sporting and cultural events, as well as academic competitions.
13 дек 2020
