Police violence against African Hebrew Israelites must stop
Yahdeen White went to a club in Eilat last month looking to have a good time. By the end of the night, the 38-year-old was bloodied, bruised, and traumatized — the victim of a vicious police beating.
“They beat me for at least seven minutes,” he told Haaretz. “I felt as if I was breathing my last breath.”
There are many parts of this story that I find troubling. White alleges that plainclothes officers ambushed him as he left the club, took him to a remote, mountainous area, and beat him while his hands and legs were restrained. He recalled one of the officers saying, “Let’s make an example of him.” After breaking several of his teeth, the officers threw his phone and ID at him and drove off.
The police said in a statement that they arrested White because two women at the club claimed he was harassing them. But sources at the club told Haaretz that the suspect was a different person. Of course, even if White had harassed the women, he would not have deserved to be brutalized by the officers. In the end, he was not even charged with a crime.
Shockingly, White is the second member of the small African Hebrew Israelite community to be manhandled by police in recent weeks.
On the afternoon of July 28, Ben Brownlee was busking outside of the Be’er Sheva central train station when a police officer approached him and ordered him to move. Brownlee refused, saying he had a permit from the municipality to perform in that location. A bystander recorded video of the ensuing altercation in which the officer can be seen pushing and kicking Brownlee as the singer screams, “Don’t touch me!”
Tuesday 12:45pm While doing a live show this evil police men comes from behind me and attempts to snach my cellphone out of my hand.My fast reflex did not allow it to happen.So I paused my music and ask the police men why are you touching my belongings?So he tells me Go there while pointing to another location[I have a court order that gives me permission to be in the place where I was sitting].So I ask him who gives you the right to tell me where I can work when I have lawful permit from the judge?He says Im breaking the law and he wants me to move.I told him that he does not have the right after the judge and the municipality gave me permition to work there.So ofcourse him being the racist gangster police that he is tried to grab me, but a moved fast where he could not get a hold of me.I told him you will respect me 1, and 2 I dont owe you anything so leave me alone. So this video shows when he continued to pursue me so that he can try and do what ever he had planned.So now he's trying to get a hold of me while ripping my clothes and whould not stop.So he finally got a hold of my hands and cuffed me as the video shows. I told him again that I have a permit from the judge and he dont have the right to tell me where I can work.More police came to the seen. They confiscated my equipment and took me to the police station where I was in cuffs for 6 hours hands and legs. I had to go through investigation where it was said that I attcked the policeman. And disturbed the public peace. I am BANNED from the city of Beer-shevah Israel for 15 days My equipment was taken and I can't approach the policemen who attacked me.I HAVE BEEN WORKING IN THIS LOCATION FOR 9 YEARS AND THIS IS THE WAY I FEED MY FAMILY. THE CITIZENS IN THE CITY SUPPORTS ME AND ALWAYS HAVE MY BACK.THIS LOCATION IS IN THE CAPITAL OF SOUTHERN ISRAEL BEER SHEVAH SOUTH TRAIN STATION.THE PRESS HAS CONTACTED ME AND IS ON THEIR JOB.I FILLED A COMPLAINT AND MAILED IT TO MAHASH- THE ISRAELI POLICE INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT.ONCE I RECEIVE A RELPY FROM MAJASH I WILL FILE A CIVIL LAWSUIT ON THE POLICEMAN ALSO THE MUNICIPALITY BASED ON THE FACT THAT THEY DID NOT FOLLOW THE COURT ORDER FROM THE JUDGE.You can see my work and more videos on my tiktok page Link https://www.tiktok.com/@ben_brownlee78?_r=1&_t=ZS-98VW9J6Z3n3
Posted by Ben Brownlee on Friday, July 31, 2026
“They confiscated my equipment and took me to the police station where I was in cuffs for 6 hours hands and legs,” Brownlee wrote on Facebook a few days later. “I had to go through [an] investigation where it was said that I attacked the policeman. And disturbed the public peace.”
Both White and Brownlee filed complaints with the Justice Ministry’s police misconduct department.
Last year, I wrote about an incident in which another African Hebrew Israelite busker, Yokai Ben Israel Edwards, was hassled by police officers and city inspectors while performing in Tel Aviv. As in that case, the police interrupted Brownlee while he was working and confiscated his speaker, depriving him of his livelihood.
“At the end of the day, this is hate for people of color,” Brownlee told me, adding, “I think people need to learn that the world we live in was created for us all.”
The circumstances surrounding the incidents in Be’er Sheva and Eilat are obviously different, but one commonality jumped out at me: the officer in Be’er Sheva and one of the three officers in Eilat were wearing kippahs. This suggests they are religious Jews, yet their behavior was not consistent with Torah values.
“The violence has really escalated,” Yair Israel, an African Hebrew Israelite business owner, told me. “With all these wars [against Hamas and Iran], everybody is tense right now.”
Yair was himself the victim of police brutality in 2015. He and his wife were on their way to Eilat for a weekend getaway when they were stopped at a checkpoint. A Border Police officer pulled him out of the car, then punched, choked, and dragged him on the ground.
The Border Police accused Yair of failing to identify himself and attacking the officer, claims that Yair, his wife, and a witness denied. Yair later sued and received a settlement.
“What did I do? What did [White] do? We ain’t done nothing,” he said. “We were Black and in the wrong spot.”
Ironically, the founders of the African Hebrew Israelite community left the United States partly to escape the racism and violence to which African Americans had long been subjected. The Chicago police harassed Nasik (“Prince”) Gavriyah and other pioneers as they gathered supplies, including guns, in preparation for their “exodus” in 1967.
“We were perceived as a threat to the government,” Gavriyah (formerly known as Nasik Gavriel HaGadol) writes in “The Impregnable People,” his book about the community’s early years in Chicago and Liberia. “All we wanted was to leave America.”
Yet police violence against people of color is a problem in Israel, too. In July 2019, tens of thousands of Ethiopian Israelis took to the streets to protest the killing of 18-year-old Solomon Tekah by an off-duty policeman. African migrants and Arab Israelis also experience mistreatment at the hands of police.
The Hebrew community had one major confrontation with the Border Police in 1986, but they are generally considered to be law-abiding and peaceful. Their youth serve in the Israel Defense Forces, including in combat roles; Sgt. Elishai Young z”l died while fighting in Gaza in 2024. They also serve in the police force. In fact, Brownlee has a brother who is a policeman.
They may not be considered Jews according to halacha (Jewish law), but they have thrown in their lot with the Jewish people. They deserve to be treated with dignity — by the police and everyone else.
“It hurts our hearts to see the videos lately, and I think we don’t deserve it, and no one else does,” Yair wrote on Facebook the other day. “Enough violence against the community.”
