Prince Immanuel Ben-Yehuda, the spokesman for the African Hebrew Israelites, said the Israeli Interior Ministry had given notice to at least 46 families, saying they must leave the country within 60 days, calling it a “shock to the system.”

Black Hebrews are a spiritual community of African-Americans who identify as descendants of an ancient Jewish tribe and view Israel as their ancestral homeland. With around 2,500-3,000 members, most of them live in the southern desert town of Dimona.The community was founded by Ben Carter, a Chicago steelworker who renamed himself Ben Ammi Ben Israel after moving to Israel along with 30 of his followers in 1969. They were able to settle in the country as the Israeli Law of Return grants automatic citizenship to Jews who settle on historically Palestinian lands.

In 1973, Black Hebrew Israelites were denied Israeli citizenship as Israel concluded that they are not ethnically Jewish, but were given temporary residency status, because of the pressure from US Congress in the early 1990s, according some information.

“For quite some time, we’ve had a number of members of the community with different levels of immigration status, some of us have full citizenship, some taken permanent residency, some have temporary residency, and some have no status whatsoever,” said Ben-Yehuda.

But Israel says it gave residency status to around 1,200 and claims those whose applications were rejected were not members of the community.

“All those who were not included in the list of community members and didn’t meet the criteria received a negative reply and in effect are residing illegally in Israel for a long period and must leave according to the law,” Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority said in a statement.

Right-wing and ultra-Orthodox jews have been advising the Israeli government to expel African migrants to protect the Jewish identity of Israel .

in addition, Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018 had called the new African migrants’ presence a threat to Israel’s social fabric and Jewish character, however, he proposed to pay thousands of African migrants living illegally in the country to leave, threatening them with jail if they are caught after the end of March.