Dozens of African Hebrew Israelites face deportation

(21 Jul 2023) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4445555 RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Dimona, Israel - 28 March 2023 1. Close of basketball hoop HEADLINE: African Hebrew Israelites Fight Deportation 2. Various of children playing basketball ANNOTATION: In the Village of Peace of the African Hebrew Israelite community, a quiet calm belies a looming threat. 3. Aerial of children playing basketball ++MUTE++ ANNOTATION: Israel plans to deport dozens of members, some of whom have children and grandchildren who know no other home. 4. Various aerials of the village ++MUTE++ ANNOTATION: The African Hebrew Israelites first made their way to Israel from the United States in the 1960s. ANNOTATION: While members do not consider themselves Jewish, they claim an ancestral connection to Israel. 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ahmadiel Ben Yehuda, community spokesperson: “We’re not Black Jews, we’re not Jewish. We’re not adherents to the tenets of Judaism. We’re practisers of spirituality versus religion." 7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ahmadiel Ben Yehuda, 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 that define us on the outside.” ASSOCIATED PRESS Dimona, Israel - 1 June 2023 8. Various of New World Passover celebrations ASSOCIATED PRESS Dimona, Israel - 28 March 2023 9. Close of photograph of community founder Ben Ammi Ben-Israel, the group’s Chicago-born spiritual leader who died in 2014 at the age of 75 10. Wide of Yanah Emery, mother of three, who was given a deportation notice ANNOTATION: Yanah Emery had just given birth to her third child when she found out she could be deported. 11. SOUNDBITE: (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'. What's supposed to happen with my babies? I have a five-year-old, a three-year-old and a baby, at the time, what is supposed to happen to my children?” 12. Wide of community activist Ashriel Moore 13. Tracking of man pushing a cart through the village 14. Various of elder hanging laundry 15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ashriel Moore, community activist: “The establishment of the state of Israel was based on the fact that Israel is the ancestral home of the Jewish people, or the people of the Bible, or the people of the book. We identify as being part of that people as well. And so we came back home by divine call like a lot of other people did. What is the reason why we are the only people who have not been accepted after 50 plus years in Israel? That’s something that nobody can be able to explain why.” ASSOCIATED PRESS Dimona, Israel - 1 June 2023 16. Wide of community members watching dancing at New World Passover ANNOTATION: The community’s long fight to secure its status shines a light on Israel’s strict immigration policy. 17. Wide of audience ANNOTATION: which grants people it considers Jewish automatic citizenship but limits entry to others who don’t fall under its definition. 18. Wide of people dancing ANNOTATION: Months have dragged on without a decision from the Israeli authorities, 19. Wide of man singing ANNOTATION: leaving the undocumented Hebrew Israelites suspended between their homes in the Holy Land and what they see as exile. STORYLINE: The rest remain in legal limbo. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...