[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 52 (Tuesday, March 21, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                THE HEBREW ISRAELITE COMMUNITY IN ISRAEL

                                 ______


                          HON. LEE H. HAMILTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 21, 1995
  Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, for 25 years, the Hebrew Israelite 
Community, a group of about 1,500 Africian-Americans, has lived in the 
Israeli desert cities of Dimona and Arad. Despite racial, linguistic, 
religious, and cultural differences from Israeli society, the Hebrew 
Israelite Community has successfully adapted to their desert 
environment, developing innovative approaches to agriculture, community 
industries, and health care. The leaders of the community feel that 
some of their innovative approaches to agriculture and community 
industries have broader application potential in the developing world, 
especially Africa.
  Initially skeptical or hostile, Israelis in Dimona and Arad have come 
to view the Hebrew Israelites as part of their society. Last year, the 
Israeli Government granted the members of the Hebrew Israelite 
Community permanent resident status.
  In recognition of the successful efforts by both the Hebrew Israelite 
Community and the Israeli Government to resolve their differences, I 
would like to place in the Congressional Record the following brief 
article from the Chicago Sun-Times of December 12, 1994.
                    Black Hebrews at Home in Israel

                           (By Jay Bushinsky)

       Dimona, Israel.--By clinging to this dry desert landscape 
     and blending their authentic American folklore with Israel's 
     biblical heritage, the black Hebrews have become an integral 
     part of this country's human landscape.
       More than two decades have elapsed since their latter-day 
     equivalent of Joshua, charismatic Ben-Ami Carter, arrived in 
     Israel by way of Liberia with the Hebrew Israelite 
     Community's advance party.
       Now its adherents are centered in Dimona and have fellow 
     believers in nearby Arad and Mitzpe Ramon, two smaller 
     development towns in the Negev desert. There is no comparing 
     the controversy and tension generated by Carter's outspoken 
     debut in Israel.
       He declared at the time that his followers were the real 
     descendants of the ancient Hebrews and termed the predominant 
     Ashkenazic Jews imposters.
       But the polemical phase of the black Hebrew saga is far 
     behind the sedate, self-confident residents of this neat 
     corner of largely North African city just up the road from 
     the top-secret nuclear reactor which has become an 
     international synonym for Dimona.
       Carter made his peace with Israeli officialdom, placed his 
     followers under its legal jurisdiction, put his educational 
     facilities under government supervision and fostered cultural 
     contact with the Israeli public through music, sports and the 
     mass media.
       The latest evidence that his policy gets the right results 
     came when Israel's equivalent of social security, the 
     National Security Institute, extended its coverage to his 
     flock.
       This means that the black Hebrews who live and work in 
     Israel will be eligible for old-age pensions, disability 
     compensation, childbirth subsidies and cash allowances for 
     large families.
       Last year, the ministry of the interior, which had refused 
     to recognize the Hebrew Israelite Community's members as 
     bonafide immigrants under the Law of the Return, granted them 
     temporary residence permits and dropped its charges that they 
     were illegal immigrants who had overstayed their entry visas 
     and were candidates for deportation to the United States.
       This move coincided with a U.S. grant of $700,000 for the 
     construction of a comprehensive public high school.
       The new educational facility's classrooms are packed with 
     students, all garbed in the navy blue uniforms ordained by 
     their teachers, who insist on high standards of personal 
     hygiene as well as immaculate dress.
       Although the Hebrew language is taught and virtually all of 
     the black Hebrews who were born here or are veteran residents 
     can speak and understand, English remains the prevailing 
     tongue.
       One of the most impressive examples of linguistic 
     adaptation was audible when a cluster of second-graders 
     ambled along singing a popular Israeli folk song with the 
     same glee as their contemporaries in Tel Aviv.
     

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