African Hebrew Israelites face deportation threats

(21 Jul 2023) ISRAEL AFRICAN HEBREWS SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS RESTRICTION SUMMARY: LENGTH: 6:00 ASSOCIATED PRESS Dimona, Israel - 28 March 2023 1. Basketball going through hoop 2. Children playing basketball on a court in the Village of Peace, a cluster of low-slung buildings that make up the epicenter of a spiritual community commonly known as African Hebrew Israelites 3. Drone shot of children playing basketball MUTE 4. Various of drone shots of Village of Peace MUTE 5. Close of a community elder 6. Community elder hanging laundry 7. Tracking of man moving boxes in a cart 8. Mother of three Yanah Emery with her children 9. SOUNDBITE SOUNBITE (English) Yanah Emery, mother of three: “Who, do they think, is going anywhere without their babies? Like, I had a breastfeeding baby when I received the letter. My child was five months old and it was like, ’oh yeah, so you got to go.’ So what is supposed to happen with my babies? I have a five-year-old, a three-year-old and a baby at the time, what was supposed to happen to my children? So there was shock and then there was disbelief. And now that it’s still carrying on two years later, now there’s upset, there’s anger, there’s upset. It’s outrageous.“ 10. Tsadok Ben Israel who grew up in Bermuda and moved to Israel from the U.S. in 1991, and is slated to be deported with four of his five children 11. SOUNDBITE (English) Tsadok Ben Israel, 55, community member: “I want my grandchildren to live righteously, and to be free to do that where that may not be so easy anywhere else. Environment is everything. The land here is everything. We strive to create an environment where it’s easy to do right, you know? And that to do wrong is what takes effort.“ 12. Various of women making clothes for a fashion label 13. Various of clothes on mannequins 14. Woman making pickles 15. Various of community member Toveet Israel taking pickles to community’s vegan grocer, the People’s Store 16. Sign of store 17. Various of Toveet unloading pickle jars and standing by counter at store 18. SOUNDBITE (English) Toveet Israel, community member: “You know, I had children here. You know, I went through my thirties here, I went through my forties here, and then all of a sudden I’m what, 51, and somebody told me I’m about to be deported? That just, I couldn’t, you know a part of me really just did not accept that.“ ASSOCIATED PRESS Dimona, Israel - 1 June 2023 19. Various of celebration of New World Passover, a unique spiritual event for the community ASSOCIATED PRESS Dimona, Israel - 28 March 2023 20. Framed poster with text, reading (English) “The Ministry of Divine Information“ 21. Photo of the community’s founder and spiritual leader Ben Ammi Ben-Israel 22. Community spokesperson Ahmadiel Ben Yehdua, UPSOUND (English): “We’re not Black Jews, we’re not Jewish, we’re not adherents to the tenets of Judaism. We’re practicers of spirituality versus religion.“ 23. SOUNDBITE (English) Ahmadiel Ben Yehdua, community spokesperson: “They can make all kind of exceptions and creative immigration rules that allow for Ukrainians and all others to come in. But when it comes to those of African ancestry, we seem to be the target of very, very crafty wording and loopholes that define us on the outside. And this is from our earliest arrival in Israel. In 1969 on our arrival here, we basically were accepted. I say basically accepted under the law of return because it was just very loose. It wasn’t something that was rigid like that.“ 24. Drone shot of the community’s school MUTE ASSOCIATED PRESS Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: