The World - News from March 9, 1986

Israel has denied entry to 26 so-called Black Hebrews, Interior Ministry spokesman Yitzhak Agasi announced. Agasi said the 26 travelers, reportedly from the Bereshith Cultural Institute in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., were turned back on their arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv “because they are members of the Black Hebrew sect.” About 2,000 Black Hebrews, mostly Americans, arrived in Israel in the mid-1970s. The sect, not recognized as Jewish by rabbinical authorities, has drawn criticism in Israel for being a closed community that rejects much government authority.