"We cannot talk in front of those others outside," says
Mohammed Abdi Ibrahim, speaking for the group because he
knows English. "They cannot be trusted. We must be very
careful. We are among our enemies."
He nods to the others. They nod back. An old man in a
frazzled turban rests his hand gently on Ibrahim's shoulder,
urging him to proceed. And then the story pours forth in a
rush:
These people are Jews. Well, not Jews exactly. In fact,
they're Muslims. But they used to be Jews, many generations
ago.
So says Ibrahim, anyway. The others nod.
He says they are part of a tribe in Somalia known as the
Yebrews, whose Canaanite ancestors once set foot on the wild
Red Sea coast and set up a private kingdom among the pagan
hordes. You have heard of the Ethiopian Jews? You have heard
that 14,000 were whisked away to Israel last week in a
massive international airlift?
"They are our close brothers," Ibrahim says.
For generations, he says, the Yebrews lived among the
Somalis. They simply converted to Islam. No big deal. It was
just the local religion. Why not? It doesn't change the
central fact that they are hereditary Hebrews. Descendants
of one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. The other Somalis have
never accepted them, never trusted them.
"They put an oppression on us," Ibrahim says. "They
always deprive our rights."
Now, he says, their situation has become desperate. Civil
war and famine in Somalia forced hundreds of Yebrews to flee
across the border into Ethiopia, where they were plopped
down in massive refugee camps. The problem is, the other
refugees are Somalis, who hate them, persecute them, accuse
them of heinous crimes of which they are totally innocent.
"They put us in the same camp with everyone," another man
in the dark room says. "Put us in amongst our enemies. All
the day we are sleeping. We do not sleep at night because we
are fearing for our lives."
Ibrahim nods vigorously. They have only one hope:
They want Israel to save them, too.
"Well, it's a new one," said Gad Ben-Ari in a telephone
interview from Jerusalem. Ben-Ari is a spokesman for the
Jewish Agency, which coordinates the immigration of foreign
Jews into Israel. "They're Muslim, you say? Hmmm. I must
tell you that we have never heard of this group before. But
that doesn't mean it's not true."
Others were more openly skeptical.
Avi Granot, counselor for political affairs at the
Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa, said he fully expected to
see a large number of "sudden conversions" and "invented
histories" now that the Israelis had provided a hope for
escape from the Ethiopian hellhole.
"I wouldn't be surprised if suddenly everyone becomes
Jewish," Granot said.
If the Yebrews did invent their story, though, they
apparently did so a long time before last week's Ethiopian
airlift. Their story is well-known among the other Somali
refugees in the camp at Teferi Ber, and comes complete with
tales of conflict between the Yebrews and other Somali
tribes over decades.
"Oh yes, them," said Minassie Bekele, a Somali who fled
to Ethiopia last month with the clothes on his back. "The
Lost Tribe of Israel. They are always claiming that they are
being persecuted, but it is not true. They are treated the
same as everyone else."
"They're just a little crazy," said Mohammed Farah Ali, a
refugee farmer, his native Somali translated by a friend who
could speak English. "They stick together, never talk to
anyone else. They are always afraid that people are getting
them. What is the word?" The two men conferred in Somali.
"They are paranoid."
But what are they? Hebrew or Muslim?
The friend, Ahmed Mohammed Daheye, laughed. "They claim
to be Hebrew, and they claim to be Muslim," he said. "Then
they complain that no one wants them."
Descendants of the ancient Israelites have lived on the
Horn of Africa for more than 2,500 years. The Ethiopian Jews
are the most famous because they held fast to their faith
through all those centuries - and because they became pawns
in an international game of chicken as former dictator
Mengistu Haile Mariam clustered them in Addis Ababa, then
released them in trickles to Israel in exchange for
concessions from the West.
Last week, after Mengistu fled his battered country,
Israel and the United States mounted the airlift that got
virtually all the remaining Ethiopian Jews to safety in
Jerusalem.
But those descendants of Israelites had kept the faith.
The Yebrews of Somalia claim only the bloodline. And that is
a difficult claim to prove.
"Jews have lived in that part of Africa for so long,"
Ben-Ari said in the interview. "I would not exclude the
possibility that somewhere along the line there was a group
that converted to Islam. What we are saying is that we have
no knowledge of such a group."
Mohammed Ibdi Ibrahim rises from the straw mattress and
walks back out into the blinding sun. He turns his back on
the swarms of people, so they cannot hear what he is saying
or watch his lips move.
"You see how we are," he says. "Surrounded by enemies, we
are not accepted as Muslims, and we are neglected by the
Israelis.
"At least take us out of this camp, put us in a place
where we are only among ourselves. Ask the Israelis to help
us. Ask them, please. They must. They must.
"We follow Allah, but we are Hebrews."
