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Deportation order for the Ethiopian community

One of the major challenges we are currently facing is the threat of deportation hanging over many members of the Ethiopian community. Until now, asylum seekers from Ethiopia were protected under group protection from deportation due to Israel’s recognition of the complex situation and the ongoing civil war in Ethiopia. In December 2025, the Supreme Court accepted the Population and Immigration Authority’s request to remove this group's protection, and the ruling is expected to take effect in April. The meaning of this ruling is that the right of Ethiopian asylum seekers to live in Israel is being taken away, and they are subject to deportation.

This situation places Ethiopian asylum-seeking families in Jerusalem in a complex position. There is uncertainty surrounding their continued stay in the country, alongside fear of deportation and the dread of returning to Ethiopia, the country from which they fled. In Ethiopia, many of them face a real and tangible danger, and reports of atrocities occurring in various regions are received daily. Many community members have no home or family to return to as a result of the impacts of the war. It should be noted that the Tigray region, from which many of the families in Jerusalem originate, is still in a state of ongoing violent conflict.

We cannot yet say to what extent the consequences of the ruling will materialize. Still, the very threat of deportation is already deeply affecting the community. In recent days, we have been operating on several fronts to prepare for this situation: we are holding Zoom meetings and community gatherings to update and explain the legal situation and developments; working in cooperation with additional organizations and providing up-to-date information directly and immediately to community members; assisting with individual asylum applications and connecting people with lawyers who provide legal support; participating in public campaigns and reaching out to the media to bring the issue onto the public agenda; and working to raise awareness in the city and among our partner communities.

As partners along the way, we hope that this update will help you become familiar with the main areas of our activity in the coming period. We would greatly appreciate your assistance in various areas—spreading awareness of our work, recruiting volunteers (with a focus on lawyers and therapists), and partnering in thinking and leading initiatives. We are very open to ideas and initiatives and look forward to continued shared dialogue.


For further information and assistance, you may contact Yael Pol Strauss, who coordinates the issue together with Amos, our community student:

psychosocial@jacc.org.il | +972 55-272-0166


Link to an article published on the subject:


“Israel is deporting refugees to their deaths: Last Wednesday, immigration authority inspectors waited near a church in Jerusalem and arrested two Ethiopian refugee women who passed by there, approximately aged 30 and 40. One was released with the intervention of a lawyer, and the other is still being held in Ramla prison with no release date, according to JACC, the African Community Center in Jerusalem.”

Today, 1,395 Ethiopian refugees are staying in Israel, having fled the civil war that took place in Tigray in northern Ethiopia. In January 2024, the Minister of Interior decided to cancel the group protection granted to Ethiopians and to renew efforts to detain and deport them. Although the civil war in Ethiopia officially ended in 2022, the humanitarian disaster of 2 million displaced people in the north of the country continues.

Kibrom Tewelde Gebremariam wrote in a column for Haaretz that in his work as a community relations manager at a refugee and migrant hotline, he meets “refugees who fled real-life-threatening danger: women who endured repeated rape; men who suffered brutal torture; young people whose parents were murdered before their eyes; journalists persecuted for reporting the truth.”


Photo: Reuters


Link to an article published in the newspaper “Haaretz”:




 
 
 

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