African Immigration to Israel

North African Jewish immigration, Ethiopian aliyah, and the later arrival of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers form distinct strands of African immigration to Israel, rather than a single movement with a common origin or legal status.[1][2] North African immigrants constituted a major component of immigration after Israel’s establishment, while Ethiopian immigration developed through gradual departures, emergency rescue operations, and later family reunification.[2][4] The large-scale arrival of non-Jewish African migrants through Egypt emerged much later, particularly from the middle of the 2000s.[1]

The scale of the Jewish movements was substantial: approximately 450,000 immigrants arriving between 1952 and 1968 came from Arab countries in North Africa, while more than 95,000 Ethiopians received assistance with immigration from the early 1950s onward.[2][4] These figures describe different periods and measures, but establish the importance of both regions in Israel’s immigration history.[2][4] Ethiopian rescue operations involved Israeli government agencies, the Mossad, the Israel Defense Forces, the Jewish Agency, and international partners.[4]

The later migration through Sinai brought tens of thousands of people, predominantly Eritrean and Sudanese nationals, into a different legal setting involving asylum applications, temporary permission to remain, and restrictions on permanent settlement.[1] Jewish immigration and non-Jewish asylum therefore require separate treatment: protection against removal did not itself confer formal refugee status, and an asylum application was distinct from recognition as a refugee.[1][6] Historical population figures also require attention to their coverage, since immigrant totals, communities including Israeli-born descendants, adult asylum-seeker counts, and counts including children measure different populations.[2][7]

Immigrants from Africa accounted for 14 percent of the first immigration wave after Israel’s establishment, which ran from 1948 through 1951 and approximately doubled the country’s population.[2] This regional figure covered immigrants from different African countries and should not be understood as the size of any one community.[2] An early account described Jews leaving Libya and Morocco amid unrest and the impact of the establishment of Israel.[8] Moroccan Jews traveled through Algiers and Marseille, while Libyan Jews initially departed through Italian ports.[8] Direct sailings from Libya to Haifa began on April 8, 1949.[8]

By October 20, 1949, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee had assisted 34,000 Jews from North Africa to emigrate to Israel, including approximately 6,000 from Cyrenaica.[8] The movement expanded during the following two decades: slightly more than 600,000 immigrants reached Israel between 1952 and 1968, approximately 450,000 of them from Arab countries in North Africa.[2] A wave beginning in 1955 brought nearly 170,000 immigrants over three years, most from those countries; another beginning in 1961 brought close to 230,000, again predominantly from North Africa.[2]

The wider North African Jewish exodus occurred amid political unrest, uncertainty accompanying the withdrawal of Western colonial powers, and the establishment of independent states and Israel.[9] Not everyone leaving the region went to Israel.[9] Estimates for 1960–1969 identify 192,000 Jewish migrants from Morocco and Tunisia against a starting population of 265,000, and 98,000 from Algeria against a starting population of 130,000; these ratios are not precise percentages of the original populations that emigrated.[9] A separate Israeli statistical table records 353,035 immigrants born in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia during 1948–2006, a country grouping and period different from the broader 1952–1968 North African estimate.[2]

Ethiopian immigration developed through a separate sequence of religious recognition, restricted departures, and rescue operations.[4][10] Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef recognized Ethiopian Jews as Jews in 1973, and recognition by Israel’s rabbinate in 1975 helped pave the way for mass immigration.[10][11] Conditions for Ethiopia’s Beta Israel community deteriorated from 1974 amid civil war, famine, political corruption, and religious persecution; Judaism was outlawed and thousands of community members were killed.[12] After Jewish emigration was banned, thousands undertook dangerous journeys to Sudan, where they lived in refugee camps.[12]

Only small numbers initially reached Israel.[10] One historical account says that fewer than 100 Ethiopian Jews had been allowed to settle in Israel at the beginning of 1977; it records 121 arrivals that year through an arrangement terminated after its military component became public.[10] From 1980, Ethiopian Jews from Tigre and Walqayit traveled to Sudan to await onward movement from refugee camps; more than 4,000 had reached Israel by the end of 1983.[10] By the late 1970s, persecution connected with Jewish and Zionist activity had transformed Ethiopian immigration into a rescue effort involving several branches of the Israeli state and the Jewish Agency.[4]

Operation Moses began on November 21, 1984, bringing Ethiopian Jews from Sudanese refugee camps to Israel through a covert airlift via Brussels.[13] The operation involved the Mossad, the CIA, and Sudanese State Security, with more than 30 aircraft carrying almost 8,000 people.[13] Kaplan and Rosen note that Ethiopian community members often cited about 4,000 deaths during the trek and camp period; a later Jerusalem memorial likewise commemorates 4,000 people who died in the Sudanese desert.[10][14] The airlift took place during a period when overall immigration to Israel was relatively low: annual arrivals averaged fewer than 20,000 between 1975 and 1989.[2]

The operation stopped on January 5, 1985, after publicity exposed the covert arrangement and Sudan withdrew cooperation.[11][13] A subsequent American-led rescue, called Operation Joshua in the United States and Operation Sheba in Israel, brought additional Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel.[13] A historical account records 648 people arriving through the later American-sponsored operation.[10] Operation Moses thus combined a major rescue achievement with the loss of life preceding evacuation and the separation of families when the airlift ended.[10][14]

Israel and Ethiopia reestablished diplomatic relations in 1989, after which increasing numbers of Ethiopian Jews gathered in Addis Ababa hoping to obtain exit visas.[10] As Ethiopia’s political situation deteriorated and rebel forces approached the capital in May 1991, Israel organized Operation Solomon.[10] American mediation helped secure an agreement permitting evacuation, and the operation used a negotiated window to move more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel on May 24–25, 1991.[4][12] The airlift lasted approximately 36 hours and involved Israeli military and civilian aircraft.[15]

Operation Solomon was planned by the Israeli government and Jewish Agency with support from the IDF and other organizations.[3] One detailed account records 14,325 passengers and 35 Israeli aircraft, including Israeli Air Force planes and El Al Boeing 747s.[15] American Jewish communities raised $35 million within hours to cover a payment demanded by the Ethiopian government.[15] On one aircraft, all seats were removed and at least 1,078 people traveled aboard, including two babies born during the flight.[3] Pilot Arieh Oz later recalled that mothers had hidden children beneath their dresses while boarding because they were unsure where they were going or who was taking them; the children emerged once passengers felt reassured during the journey.[16]

For 1972–1993, a historical account gives a total of 44,614 Ethiopian Jewish immigrants and estimates that more than 50,000 Ethiopians lived in Israel by the end of 1993 when Israeli-born children were included.[10] Immigration continued beyond the major airlifts, including assistance to Jews from Qwara Province during the 1990s.[4] Later arrivals included people described as Zera Israel, descendants of Jews who were not considered legally Jewish under religious law.[4] Operation Dove’s Wings brought 7,000 immigrants from Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa during the early 2010s; group flights ended in 2013, although eligible individuals could continue to immigrate.[4]

Family reunification became the focus of Operation Zur Israel, launched in November 2020 after some relatives had been separated for more than a decade.[4] Its first phase, completed in early 2021, brought 2,150 immigrants on nine flights, including 70 babies, 219 children, 674 young adults, and 35 older adults.[4] The Israeli government approved continuation of the operation in November 2021.[4]

A different migration stream developed along the Egyptian border.[6] Irregular entry by foreign nationals seeking work had occurred from approximately the late 1990s, but the pattern changed significantly in 2007 as Sudanese and Eritrean nationals began arriving in large numbers.[6] Nearly 65,000 Africans crossed from Egypt into Israel between 2006 and 2013.[1] The population included people from Eritrea, South Sudan, and Darfur; reporting identified Eritrean military conscription and armed or humanitarian crises in Sudan and South Sudan as important factors in their migration.[17] Migrants often settled in south Tel Aviv, including the area surrounding the central bus station, and some worked in cleaning and cooking.[17]

The Sinai route operated within networks connecting African migrants in Egypt, Cairo, and eastern Sinai, including human-trafficking networks.[18] One contemporary estimate placed trafficking from the Horn of Africa into Israel at approximately 2,500 people per month during 2011, followed by a decline of about 90 percent by mid-2012 as Israel accelerated construction of its Egyptian-border barrier.[19] Border infrastructure subsequently combined the Hourglass barrier with security roads, intelligence systems, and other enforcement measures.[18] By 2017, the Population and Immigration Authority reported that no African migrants entered Israel.[17]

Israel’s asylum procedures developed separately from the organized aliyah operations that brought Jewish immigrants from Africa.[1] Responsibility for processing asylum applications was gradually transferred from the local office of the UN refugee agency to the Interior Ministry, with a revised procedure taking effect on January 2, 2011.[6] The procedure included identification and registration, interviews, and either expedited or full review; the Interior Minister made the final refugee-recognition decision in cases referred to an advisory committee.[6]

Israel is party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.[1] The principle of non-refoulement prohibits returning a person to a place where life or freedom would be threatened on specified grounds.[1] During the period covered by a 2016 legal account, asylum determinations were handled by the Interior Ministry’s Refugee Status Determination Unit, and applicants could not be expelled before a final decision.[1] Eritrean and Sudanese nationals already in Israel were generally allowed to remain, but this did not provide a route to permanent residence or citizenship.[1] Sudan’s designation as an enemy country and human-rights conditions in Eritrea complicated return to those countries.[20]

An earlier practice of immediately returning some border crossers to Egypt relied on an asserted oral understanding that Egypt would protect them and would not send them onward to their countries of origin.[6] That procedure ended following a High Court of Justice ruling on July 7, 2011.[6] In 2013, a different policy offered Sudanese and Eritrean nationals willing to depart $3,500 and a one-way ticket to their home country or a third country, identified as Rwanda or Uganda.[1] Border restrictions, holding facilities, legal regulation, departure incentives, and deportation proceedings became components of Israel’s response.[18]

Detention rules changed repeatedly through legislation and judicial review.[1] A 2012 amendment to the Prevention of Infiltration Law allowed detention of irregular migrants, including asylum seekers and children, for up to three years.[21] On September 16, 2013, the High Court overturned the amendment as incompatible with the Basic Law of Human Dignity and Freedom.[21] A December 2013 amendment reduced the permitted detention period for unauthorized entry to one year and provided for an open facility with compulsory presence and reporting requirements.[21]

Holot opened in December 2013 as part of an effort to reduce concentrations of asylum seekers in cities.[6] Residents were required to remain inside from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and the facility’s rules prevented outside employment.[6][21] In August 2015, a nine-justice Supreme Court panel upheld three months’ detention for identification and consideration of removal, but invalidated a 20-month maximum stay in a designated facility as disproportionate.[1] The Knesset subsequently adopted a temporary amendment in February 2016 setting a 12-month maximum.[1] Holot closed in March 2018.[6] These provisions describe historical arrangements, not a statement of present detention law.[1][6]

Departure and resettlement policy underwent another major change in 2018.[22] A government plan offered Eritrean and Sudanese nationals $3,500 and a one-way ticket if they departed voluntarily within 60 days, while a proposed removal program targeted single adult men for transfer to third countries.[22] The High Court issued an emergency injunction suspending the deportation plan in March.[22] On April 2, Israel announced an agreement with the UN refugee agency under which at least 16,250 people would be resettled in Western countries and the remainder of an estimated population of 38,000 would be allowed to remain legally in Israel.[23]

The proposed agreement was to operate in three stages over five years and included a commitment to strengthen south Tel Aviv.[23] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled it the following day after pressure from coalition partners.[24] The revised reporting described approximately 16,000 people intended for Western resettlement, roughly the same number whose status would be regularized in Israel, and about 6,000 others still requiring a solution.[24] On April 24, the government said it would make no further deportation decisions after failing to secure an agreement with a third country.[22]

Protection from removal and formal refugee recognition remained separate.[6] In 2017, at least 37,000 Eritrean and Sudanese nationals considered non-removable remained in Israel.[6] Application processing for people in that category had begun in April 2013, after an earlier period in which many applications were registered without interviews or decisions.[6] Of approximately 3,500 applications submitted by Eritrean and Sudanese nationals between 2013 and February 2015, only about 400 had been decided by February 2017.[6]

For asylum requests submitted during 2011–2019, reported outcomes totaled 64,542 cases: 39 approvals, 121 rejections following full examination, 16,777 outright rejections or expedited cases, 34,624 pending applications, and 12,941 closures following departure or lack of cooperation.[25] These figures cover the reported asylum caseload rather than only African applicants.[25] On October 13, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that 600 Sudanese nationals who had received special protection status in 2007 would be considered refugees.[25]

Temporary documentation also affected employment.[1] The section 2(A)(5) conditional-release visa was not a work permit, although the government committed not to sanction employers in specified circumstances.[1] Visa holders who worked were entitled to certain labor protections, including minimum wage, sick pay, and health insurance, with conditions varying by status and location.[1] In 2023, conditional-release visas still lacked work permits, while employers were not often prosecuted for employing some holders.[7] Most asylum seekers held frequently renewable visas, and many applications remained pending for years.[7]

Access to health care depended heavily on employment and age.[7] In 2023, adult asylum seekers generally could obtain health insurance only through employers; those without employer coverage had access limited to emergency care.[7] Children could obtain Ministry of Health insurance for a monthly fee, and compulsory education applied regardless of citizenship status.[7] Visa renewals were concentrated at two locations, Bnei Brak and Eilat, and conditional-release documentation did not itself provide access to welfare or medical services.[26]

Children born in Israel to parents without status faced additional administrative distinctions.[5] They did not receive the identity number issued to citizens and permanent residents, instead receiving different numbers for education and early-childhood health services.[5] A June 2024 account described young people receiving a temporary visitation permit at age 16 that used the legal designation “infiltrators,” alongside subsequent restrictions affecting education, health insurance, and other rights.[5] The same account described a pilot integrating migrant and asylum-seeker children into Tel Aviv first-grade classrooms after legal challenges concerning segregated schooling.[5]

By the end of 2008, Israel’s Ethiopian community numbered 119,300, approximately 2 percent of the Jewish population.[14] Of that community, 68 percent had been born in Ethiopia and 32 percent were Israeli-born with an Ethiopian-born father.[14] Thirty-nine percent lived in central Israel and 24 percent in the South, with large communities in Netanya, Ashdod, Rehovot, and Be’er Sheva.[14] A 2021 account placed the combined population of first-generation Ethiopian immigrants and second-generation Ethiopian Israelis above 150,000.[15] Earlier immigration statistics recorded 79,127 Ethiopian-born arrivals during 1948–2006.[2]

The Ethiopian operations brought together rescue, international negotiation, aircraft mobilization, and Jewish communal fundraising on a large scale.[3][15] Operation Solomon moved more than 14,000 people within approximately a day and a half, while the later Zur Israel operation addressed prolonged family separation rather than repeating the circumstances of the emergency airlifts.[4][15] The history also includes the experience of refugees who died before rescue and families divided by the suspension of covert operations.[10][14]

For the later asylum-seeker population, dated totals show a smaller resident population over time.[1][25] On March 31, 2015, the recorded population remaining from irregular entrants numbered 45,711: 33,506 Eritreans, 8,637 Sudanese, 2,984 people from other African countries, and 584 from elsewhere.[1] A separate figure in the same reporting recorded 747 voluntary departures.[1] In April 2018, Globes reported an estimated 38,000 African refugees and asylum seekers, including about 34,000 from Sudan and Eritrea.[23] By September 30, 2020, the recorded total was 31,012 irregular migrants and asylum seekers, including 28,175 Eritrean or Sudanese nationals.[25]

On September 30, 2023, Israel had 23,249 adult asylum seekers, including 20,759 from Eritrea or Sudan, alongside more than 8,000 children of asylum seekers, most born in Israel.[7] A trafficking report using December 2023 figures counted approximately 23,081 African asylum seekers.[27] A June 2024 account gave a total just above 23,000 migrants and asylum seekers, including 17,380 Eritreans and 3,231 Sudanese.[5] These counts have different dates and coverage, particularly concerning adults and children, and should not be treated as interchangeable current headcounts.[7][5]

Migration experiences included significant exposure to violence.[28] A study of 1,044 adult asylum seekers seeking care at the Physicians for Human Rights Open Clinic included 895 Eritreans and 149 Sudanese.[28] Among Eritrean participants, 41.3 percent of men and 29.3 percent of women reported witnessing violence during migration, while 56 percent of men and 34.9 percent of women reported victimization.[28] Among Sudanese participants, the corresponding figures were 16.8 and 22.2 percent for witnessing violence, and 51.9 and 44.4 percent for victimization.[28] These findings apply to the clinic-seeking sample, not to the population as a whole.[28]

Economic insecurity could compound vulnerability after arrival.[27] A 2024 trafficking assessment described African asylum seekers working in low-wage jobs in unsafe environments without an explicit right to work, and identified economic distress as increasing some women’s vulnerability to sex trafficking.[27] It also linked conditions following the October 7 attack and ensuing conflict with increased reliance on survival sex and heightened trafficking vulnerability.[27] Individual experiences nevertheless included strong attachments to Israeli society: Darfur-born refugee Mutasim Ali described his friends as Israeli and said he felt part of Israeli society, while his family remained in a displacement camp in Darfur.[17]

Religious-status requirements became a significant dispute in Ethiopian immigration and absorption.[10] During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Chief Rabbinate raised questions concerning individual personal status and required a modified conversion ceremony, prompting organized resistance from Ethiopian immigrants who rejected doubts about their Jewish identity.[10] Later applications involved people claiming Jewish ancestry whose family histories included departure from the Jewish community; historical disagreement concerned whether ancestors had converted to Christianity, whether departure involved another religion, and whether conversion reflected coercion or socioeconomic pressures.[11] Some of these applications were also family-reunification cases.[11]

Israeli authorities and asylum advocates differed over whether many Eritrean and Sudanese arrivals were primarily economic migrants or people requiring refugee protection and individual assessment.[1][17] Legal and administrative use of “infiltrator” did not establish that every person described that way had the same circumstances or refugee claim.[1][5] A 2018 tribunal rejected one Eritrean military deserter’s appeal on the assessment that desertion alone did not establish political persecution; the judge’s broader recommendation to change non-removal policy was not an adopted government policy.[6]

Recognition rates, prolonged application processing, removal arrangements, and access to services remained central points of disagreement.[7][25] Estimates used in 2023 placed refugee recognition below 1 percent, while applications frequently remained pending for years.[7] Research on children in south Tel Aviv connected disputes over their presence to anti-asylum-seeker incitement, gentrification, demographic concerns, and competing understandings of Israel’s character and refugee obligations.[29]

Public-order concerns were highlighted by clashes in Tel Aviv on September 2, 2023, between Eritrean regime supporters and opponents at an embassy-organized festival.[7] At least 157 people, including 49 police officers, were injured, and police used live ammunition, tear gas, and stun grenades.[7] Fifty-three Eritrean nationals were arrested and subsequently placed in administrative detention; an inquiry into police conduct remained pending at year’s end.[7] The episode added questions about policing and detention to an already extensive dispute over status and integration.[7]