African Hebrew Israelites in Israel

The African Hebrew Israelites in Israel comprise a <a href="/facts/New_religious_movement/7Ttfr321">new religious movement</a> that is now mainly based in <a href="/facts/Dimona/Ddy7DjvJ">Dimona</a>. Officially self-identifying as the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, they originate from African American Ben Carter who later renamed himself to <a href="/facts/Ben_Ammi_Ben-Israel/EMdD8w5w">Ben Ammi Ben-Israel</a> who immigrated to the <a href="/facts/Israel/dEe3IcaY">State of Israel</a> in the late 1960s (around 1966). The community <a href="/facts/Groups_claiming_affiliation_with_Israelites/mBjBlPVq">claims Israelite descent</a> in line with the philosophy of the <a href="/facts/Black_Hebrew_Israelites/wQd7y4Rq">Black Hebrew Israelites</a>, who believe that <a href="/facts/Black_people/khyfdI6h">Black people</a> in the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> are descended from the <a href="/facts/Twelve_Tribes_of_Israel/HqrQ8wNS">Twelve Tribes of Israel</a> and thus rightfully belong to the <a href="/facts/Land_of_Israel/gK0v6GEo">Land of Israel</a>. As of 2012<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Hebrew_Israelites_in_Israel&action=edit">[update]</a>, their total population stood at about 5,000 people.
Believing that they were <a href="/facts/Zera_Yisrael/zLFAWxI8">Jews by blood</a> (i.e., through the <a href="/facts/Hebrews/8uj9CotS">Hebrews</a> or <a href="/facts/Israelites/wohGkSzL">Israelites</a>), the community first settled in <a href="/facts/Liberia/U99yfl2k">Liberia</a>, where they were not welcomed by the Liberian government. Later moving to Israel, they were recognized as <a href="/facts/Gentile/l7KWuu7v">non-Jews</a> by the Israeli government and by Israeli religious authorities. 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. Since 2004, however, some African Hebrew Israelites have been granted permanent residency and have enlisted in the <a href="/facts/Israel_Defense_Forces/9hPaqcAM">Israel Defense Forces</a>.
Many of the community's beliefs were developed on the basis of revelations experienced by African-American steel worker <a href="/facts/Ben_Ammi_Ben-Israel/EMdD8w5w">Ben Carter</a>, who claimed that the angel <a href="/facts/Gabriel/oELRTjkD">Gabriel</a> had called on him to return his people—the "true" Children of Israel—to what is often referred to as the <a href="/facts/Holy_Land/lju6CuUX">Holy Land</a> in the <a href="/facts/Abrahamic_religions/y9z2Wf9q">Abrahamic religions</a>. Born a <a href="/facts/Baptists/nMKlmaVb">Baptist Christian</a>, Carter later changed his name to Ben Ammi Ben-Israel (<a href="/facts/Hebrew_language/hqKCSy9d">Hebrew</a>: בן עמי בן-ישראל) and began rallying other African Americans to his cause. He rejected <a href="/facts/Judaism/tjQ5Tgs6">Judaism</a> and <a href="/facts/Christianity/nKyJHlqq">Christianity</a>, but asserted that the <a href="/facts/Jewish_Bible/y8yblF9f">Jewish Bible</a> was still divine and claimed that <a href="/facts/Abraham/gHguuYch">Abraham</a> and <a href="/facts/Moses/D0pp5HMQ">Moses</a> were Black people, while also perceiving <a href="/facts/Jesus/Hcd9hEzI">Jesus</a> as one of many messiahs. Some of Carter's statements and the community's beliefs have led to accusations of <a href="/facts/Antisemitism/kUpfFkqx">antisemitism</a> against them: he alleged that there was an <a href="/facts/International_Jewish_conspiracy/zhb6sYIa">international Jewish conspiracy</a> through which the Israeli government maintained control over the Holy Land. Claiming that Black people were the "true inheritors of Israel" suffering under "<a href="/facts/White_Americans/H6ToYC5Q">Euro</a>-gentile dominion" in the United States, Carter stated that <a href="/facts/Israeli_Jews/LfbJql59">Israeli Jews</a> and <a href="/facts/Palestinians/DBnkAQ5l">Palestinian Arabs</a> in the Holy Land had a false tradition of being descended from <a href="/facts/Isaac/j5X9fbE3">Isaac</a> and <a href="/facts/Ishmael/3tRnI8NP">Ishmael</a>, respectively, and were instead descended from <a href="/facts/Crusades/mblv9nwI">European Crusaders</a>.

African Hebrew Israelites in Israel open-in-new

African Hebrew Israelites in Israel