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Rival Eritrean Groups Clash in Israel, Leaving Dozens Hurt

02 September 2023, Israel, Tel Aviv: Eritrean asylum seekers clash with police at a demonstration in Tel Aviv, ahead of an event that was planned by the Eritrean embassy. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
02 September 2023, Israel, Tel Aviv: Eritrean asylum seekers clash with police at a demonstration in Tel Aviv, ahead of an event that was planned by the Eritrean embassy. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
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Rival Eritrean Groups Clash in Israel, Leaving Dozens Hurt

02 September 2023, Israel, Tel Aviv: Eritrean asylum seekers clash with police at a demonstration in Tel Aviv, ahead of an event that was planned by the Eritrean embassy. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
02 September 2023, Israel, Tel Aviv: Eritrean asylum seekers clash with police at a demonstration in Tel Aviv, ahead of an event that was planned by the Eritrean embassy. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

Hundreds of Eritrean government supporters and opponents clashed with each other and with Israeli police Saturday, leaving dozens injured in one of the most violent street confrontations among African asylum seekers and migrants in Tel Aviv in recent memory.
Among those hurt were 30 police officers and three protesters hit by police fire, The Associated Press reported.
Eritreans from both sides faced off with construction lumber, pieces of metal, rocks and at least one axe, tearing through a neighborhood of south Tel Aviv where many asylum seekers live. Protesters smashed shop windows and police cars, and blood spatter was seen on sidewalks. One government supporter was lying in a puddle of blood in a children’s playground.
Israeli police in riot gear shot tear gas, stun grenades and live rounds while officers on horseback tried to control the protesters, who broke through barricades and hurled chunks rocks at the police. Police said officers resorted to live fire when they felt their lives were in danger.
The clashes came as Eritrean government supporters marked the 30th anniversary of the current ruler's rise to power. The event was held near the Eritrean embassy in south Tel Aviv.
Police said Eritrean government supporters and opponents had received permission for separate events Saturday, and had promised to stay away from each other.
At some point, the promises were broken, said Chaim Bublil, a Tel Aviv police commander.
“A decision was made by the government opponents to break through the barriers, to clash with the police, to throw stones, to hit police officers,” Bublil told reporters at the scene.
He said the police had arrested 39 people and confiscated tasers, knives and clubs.
The Magen David Adom rescue service said at least 114 people were hurt, including eight who were in serious condition. The others had moderate or mild injuries. Of those hurt, 30 were police officers, said Bublil.
A spokesperson for Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital said it was treating 11 patients for gunshot wounds. Police said three protesters were wounded by police fire.
By late Saturday afternoon, the clashes had stopped. Police were still rounding up protesters, putting them on buses.

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Jd Vance Goes to the Vatican Following Remarkable Papal Rebuke over Trump Crackdown on Migrants

US Vice President JD Vance, and his wife Usha Vance, left, with their daughter Mirabel, attend a Good Friday service led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, right, inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
US Vice President JD Vance, and his wife Usha Vance, left, with their daughter Mirabel, attend a Good Friday service led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, right, inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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Jd Vance Goes to the Vatican Following Remarkable Papal Rebuke over Trump Crackdown on Migrants

US Vice President JD Vance, and his wife Usha Vance, left, with their daughter Mirabel, attend a Good Friday service led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, right, inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
US Vice President JD Vance, and his wife Usha Vance, left, with their daughter Mirabel, attend a Good Friday service led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, right, inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

US Vice President JD Vance is meeting with the Vatican No. 2 official, following a remarkable papal rebuke of the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants and Vance’s theological justification of it.
Vance, a Catholic convert, was due to meet Saturday with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. There was speculation he might also briefly greet Pope Francis, who has begun resuming some official duties during his recovery from pneumonia.
Vance was spending Easter weekend in Rome with his family and attended Good Friday services in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday after meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, The Associated Press said.
Francis and Vance have tangled sharply over migration and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse. Francis has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy and his progressive views on social justice issues have often put him at odds with members of the more conservative US Catholic Church.
Vance, who converted in 2019, identifies with a small Catholic intellectual movement, viewed by some critics as having reactionary or authoritarian leanings, that is often called “postliberal.”
Postliberals share some longstanding Catholic conservative views. They envision a counterrevolution in which they take over government bureaucracy and institutions like universities from within, replacing entrenched “elites” with their own and acting upon their vision of the “common good.”
Just days before he was hospitalized in February, Francis blasted the Trump administration’s deportation plans, warning that they would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity. In a letter to US bishops, Francis also appeared to respond to Vance directly for having claimed that Catholic doctrine justified such policies.
Vance had defended the administration’s America-first crackdown by citing a concept from medieval Catholic theology known in Latin as “ordo amoris.” He has said the concept delineates a hierarchy of care — to family first, followed by neighbor, community, fellow citizens and lastly those elsewhere.
In his Feb. 10 letter, Francis appeared to correct Vance’s understanding of the concept.
“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extends to other persons and groups,” he wrote. “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Vance has acknowledged Francis’ criticism but has said he would continue to defend his views. During a Feb. 28 appearance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Vance didn’t address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there are “things about the faith that I don’t know.”
While he had criticized Francis on social media in the past, recently he has posted prayers for Francis’ recovery.
On Friday, Vance, his wife and three young children had front-row seats at the Vatican’s Good Friday service in St. Peter’s, a two-hour solemn commemoration featuring Latin and Italian readings. Francis did not attend.
But the pope has begun receiving visitors, including King Charles III, and this week ventured out of the Vatican to meet with prisoners at Rome's central jail to keep a Holy Thursday appointment ministering to the most marginalized.
He has named other cardinals to preside over Easter services this weekend, but officials haven't ruled out a possible brief greeting with Vance.
“I’m grateful every day for this job, but particularly today where my official duties have brought me to Rome on Good Friday,” Vance posted on X. “I wish all Christians all over the world, but particularly those back home in the US, a blessed Good Friday.”