Black Hebrews Disrupt Meeting Honoring Israel

WASHINGTON â€”  Fifteen Black Hebrews were arrested today after disrupting a prayer breakfast in honor of Israel, overturning a table and climbing onto the stage with protest signs.

More than 700 people had assembled for the breakfast about 7:15 a.m. when the demonstrators, who had spread throughout the large room, began handing out leaflets protesting Israeli government policies.

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, the keynote speaker, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Meir Rosenne and several members of Congress attended the breakfast, sponsored by the National Religious Broadcasters.

As security officials tried to remove the protesters, a table was overturned and the place settings at several other tables were toppled.

Deportation Protested

No injuries were reported. Police filed unlawful entry charges against 15 demonstrators who were protesting the Israeli government’s deportation of people in the Black Hebrew community in Dimona, Israel.

The breakfast, which was just getting under way when the disruption began, continued amid tight security.

The mainly U.S.-born Black Hebrews claim to be descended from one of the original 12 tribes of Israel. Members of the sect, which originated in Chicago, began arriving in Israel in 1969.

Last year, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld an Interior Ministry decision to expel 46 members of the sect who had overstayed their visas.

In 1972, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld a ruling by religious authorities that the Black Hebrews are not Jews and therefore are not entitled to automatic citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return.