With the exception of the well-publicized Operation Moses, Joshua, and Solomon Airlift of 20,000 Ethiopian Jews from that war and famine ravaged nation to Israel between 1984 and 1991, few people outside the Middle East are aware of the tens of thousands of people of African ancestry living in the J…
Black Bedouin are the descendents of African slaves purchased by Bedouins, the semi-nomadic Arab population in the Negev desert region of southern Israel. The Israeli black Bedouin number 10,000 out of approximately 180,000 Bedouin in the country. Although slavery has been illegal in Israel since the nation’s founding in 1948, the black Bedouin are still referred to as abed, a pejorative word that means both slave and black, and considered to have the lowest social status within Bedouin society. Many black Bedouin are affiliated with the Abu Balal tribe, a name that is reminiscent of Bilal, the Ethiopian companion of the Prophet Mohammed. All black Bedouin are Muslim like the rest of Bedouin society.
Source: The Black Diaspora in Israel, 1965 to 2011 •
This is an article about some people you probably didn’t know existed.
The news only shows you the two sides of colonists here. There are many more people here who are completely ignored in the conflict. Some of these Africans are among groups of the ignored while extremists and colonists fight over who is most entitled.
