SSS Arrests Israeli Filmmakers In Nigeria Over Alleged Contact With IPOB Members

*Israeli Embassy Reacts

Three Israelis shooting a documentary in a separatist region in
southeast Nigeria were arrested last week, the Foreign Ministry has
confirmed.

According to Times Of Israel, Nigerian authorities arrested and
interrogated the trio on suspicion that they had come into contact
with ‘Biafran separatists.’

According to the Foreign Ministry, the Israeli Embassy in Abuja
is following the case closely and is in contact with Nigerian
authorities.

One of the Israelis arrested is Rudy Rochman, a Zionist activist
with almost 95,000 followers on Instagram. Making the flight with
him were filmmaker Noam Leibman and French-Israeli journalist E.
David Benaym.

The Israelis were in Nigeria to film “We Were Never Lost,” a
documentary exploring Jewish communities in African countries such
as Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, and Nigeria.

They took off from Ben Gurion Airport on July 5 and landed in
Nigeria the next day.

According to residents, the crew was detained at a synagogue
during Friday night services in the Igbo village of Ogidi by
Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS) and
taken to Abuja.

Ogidi is the headquarters of Idemili North Local Government
Area, Anambra State.

The filmmakers were aware of the political sensitivity
surrounding the filming of the Igbo community. Last Thursday, the
“We Were Never Lost” Facebook page stressed: “We do not take any
position on political movements as we are not here as politicians
nor as a part of any governmental delegations.”

Last week, the group met with Igbo leader, Eze Chukwuemeka Eri,
and presented him with a framed Shiviti made in Jerusalem.

Rochman also presented another Igbo community with a Torah
scroll whose cover was designed by British-Israeli street artist
Solomon Souza.

The Igbo consider themselves a lost tribe of Israel.

In January, a conflict broke out in southeastern Nigeria between
Nigerian forces and the military wing of the Indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB) movement. The fight is ongoing.

A previous unilateral declaration of independence by the Igbo
people in 1967 sparked a brutal 30-month civil war that left more
than a million dead.

In 2018, IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu gave a radio broadcast saying
he was in Israel and indicating he owed his survival to the Jewish
state.

Kanu, a former London estate agent, heads IPOB and the outlawed
pirate radio station Radio Biafra.

He maintains the Igbo people, who are in the majority in
southeast Nigeria, are a lost tribe of Israel and it is his mission
to lead them to the promised land of Biafra.

The Nigerian government, on June 21, announced Kanu’s arrest and
extradition to Nigeria to continue facing trial.

He was subsequently arraigned before Binta Nyako, a Judge of the
Federal High Court in Abuja.

Kanu is facing charges bordering on treasonable felony
instituted against him at the court in response to years of the
campaign for the independent Republic of Biafra through IPOB.

He was granted bail in April 2017 for health reasons but skipped
bail after disregarding some of the conditions given to him by the
court.

*Israeli Embassy Reacts

Three Israelis shooting a documentary in a separatist region in
southeast Nigeria were arrested last week, the Foreign Ministry has
confirmed.

According to Times Of Israel, Nigerian authorities arrested and
interrogated the trio on suspicion that they had come into contact
with ‘Biafran separatists.’

According to the Foreign Ministry, the Israeli Embassy in Abuja
is following the case closely and is in contact with Nigerian
authorities.

One of the Israelis arrested is Rudy Rochman, a Zionist activist
with almost 95,000 followers on Instagram. Making the flight with
him were filmmaker Noam Leibman and French-Israeli journalist E.
David Benaym.

The Israelis were in Nigeria to film “We Were Never Lost,” a
documentary exploring Jewish communities in African countries such
as Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, and Nigeria.

They took off from Ben Gurion Airport on July 5 and landed in
Nigeria the next day.

According to residents, the crew was detained at a synagogue
during Friday night services in the Igbo village of Ogidi by
Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS) and
taken to Abuja.

Ogidi is the headquarters of Idemili North Local Government
Area, Anambra State.

The filmmakers were aware of the political sensitivity
surrounding the filming of the Igbo community. Last Thursday, the
“We Were Never Lost” Facebook page stressed: “We do not take any
position on political movements as we are not here as politicians
nor as a part of any governmental delegations.”

Last week, the group met with Igbo leader, Eze Chukwuemeka Eri,
and presented him with a framed Shiviti made in Jerusalem.

Rochman also presented another Igbo community with a Torah
scroll whose cover was designed by British-Israeli street artist
Solomon Souza.

The Igbo consider themselves a lost tribe of Israel.

In January, a conflict broke out in southeastern Nigeria between
Nigerian forces and the military wing of the Indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB) movement. The fight is ongoing.

A previous unilateral declaration of independence by the Igbo
people in 1967 sparked a brutal 30-month civil war that left more
than a million dead.

In 2018, IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu gave a radio broadcast saying
he was in Israel and indicating he owed his survival to the Jewish
state.

Kanu, a former London estate agent, heads IPOB and the outlawed
pirate radio station Radio Biafra.

He maintains the Igbo people, who are in the majority in
southeast Nigeria, are a lost tribe of Israel and it is his mission
to lead them to the promised land of Biafra.

The Nigerian government, on June 21, announced Kanu’s arrest and
extradition to Nigeria to continue facing trial.

He was subsequently arraigned before Binta Nyako, a Judge of the
Federal High Court in Abuja.

Kanu is facing charges bordering on treasonable felony
instituted against him at the court in response to years of the
campaign for the independent Republic of Biafra through IPOB.

He was granted bail in April 2017 for health reasons but skipped
bail after disregarding some of the conditions given to him by the
court.