Published: 17 June 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
IF YOU’RE IN SOUTH Tel Aviv on a Saturday, it’s not uncommon to see Eritreans living there all dressed up in white on their way to a wedding.
The weekly celebrations serve to strengthen this community of asylum seekers, but also convey a message to the extended family left behind — after all the trials and tribulations many experienced to get to Israel, they have reached a safe haven.
Of the roughly 40,000 asylum seekers in Israel, Eritreans make up about 75 percent. Most of them entered Israel via the Sinai Desert between 2006 and 2012, crossing over the Egyptian border before that route was cut off when Israel erected a fence in 2013.
They fled dire economic conditions, political or religious persecution, or the prospect of forced conscription for life in the Eritrean army. For many, the journey to Israel was harrowing, with theft, beatings, rape and even murder often perpetrated by the very agents they hired to smuggle them across the border.
FULL STORY Eritrean weddings in south Tel Aviv bolster the community, spur commerce (Times of Israel)
Photo: An Eritrean wedding singer (Dafna Talmon)
