At dawn on Tuesday morning, a large group gathered on a mountain in the Negev desert to reenact the moments leading up to the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. Dressed in robes and flowing dresses, these pilgrims prayed, sang spirituals and discarded the leftovers from their seder meals into the flames of a massive bonfire, in…
When Yityish Aynaw immigrated from Ethiopia to Israel at age 12, she was thrust into an Israeli classroom. An orphan lacking Hebrew skills, Aynaw says she relied on other kids and her own sheer ambition to get through. Ten years later Aynaw, 22, is the first Ethiopian-Israeli to be crowned Miss Israel – a title…
Israel’s attorney general ordered a halt to the deportation of Eritrean migrants. Yehuda Weinstein said in a letter Tuesday to the director of the Interior Ministry’s Population, Immigration and Border Authority, Amnon Ben Ami, that the deportations must be stopped until he clarifies the legal issues involved. “To prevent, God forbid, such incidents from occurring…
Israel secretly repatriated at least 1,000 Sudanese citizens via a third country, an Israeli newspaper reported. The repatriation was done without the knowledge of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Haaretz reported Tuesday. Sudan is an enemy country which has vowed to punish any of its citizens for entering Israel. The U.N. Convention Relating to…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked outgoing Pope Benedict on Monday for his efforts to shore up often troubled relations between the Roman Catholic Church and Jews, including with his 2009 visit to the Holy Land. That trip, in which the German-born Benedict paid respects at Israel’s main Holocaust memorial, was seen by many Jews…
Eritrean Youth Solidarity for Change (EYSC) and RightNow: Advocacy for Asylum Seekers in Israel hosted a joint event in Los Angeles, advocating for the Jewish and Eritrean-American communities to work together to help Eritrean refugees stuck in the Sinai desert. The event launched the groups’ global campaign to end “human trafficking, torture, organ theft, and…
Cardinal Kurt Koch, a close aide of Pope Benedict who will cast his vote for the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church, says there is no reason why the new pontiff cannot be African or Latin American. Koch, head of the Vatican department that deals with Christian unity and relations with Jews, also said…
American advocacy groups called for improved treatment for African immigrants and asylum seekers in Israel during a public forum in Los Angeles this week. “Infiltrators or Refugees?” organized by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) and Right Now: Advocates for African Asylum Seekers in Israel was held at the National Council of Jewish Women, Los…
