Prince Asiel - A Portrait of a Living Hero

International Ambassador of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem
KNN-Cleveland

“There is a very small percentage of individuals who are conscious of the problems (confronting African American). An even smaller percentage possesses the fortitude and concern to do what is necessary to adequately address the problem. This minute portion of the population must seize the power to define and control our destiny.” - His Excellency Prince Asiel Ben Israel

Prince Asiel Ben Israel is one of the few African American leaders who has seized the power to define and control our destiny and direct our people toward the path of positive change. For 30 years he has served as International Ambassador Extraordinaire of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem. He has maintained the vision, integrity and determination necessary to build a community that would prove to the world that African Americans can not only govern themselves; but can and have created an alternative lifestyle free from the many ills that dominate the lives of Black people in America.

After three decades, Prince Asiel looks back with great pride and admiration on a community of more than 2,500 African Americans in Israel, with equal numbers in Africa, the Caribbean and the U.S. They have succeeded in establishing an environment free from the drugs, crime and immorality plaguing societies around the world. In August 1994, the House Human Rights honored the community in a special program on Capitol Hill entitled “The Miracle in the Desert.” Today the Hebrew Israelite Community is known as “The Village of Peace.” The Hebrew Israelites have proven to be the vanguard for a truly progressive development into the 21st Century.

In the political arena, Prince Asiel’s relentless dedication to the redevelopment and rebuilding of Africa has endeared him to African heads of state and American civic, economic and religious leaders. He has sponsored many political and business delegations into Israel to foster and further relations between African Americans and the Jewish Community both in Israel and in America.

As President and CEO of Bold Spiritual Initiative (B.S.I.), a volunteer resettlement program for African Americans to reconnect to Africa in a very positive way, Prince Asiel was instrumental in providing potable water for the first time for eight villages in the Volta Region in Ghana. He also works very closely with Support-a-Child International, Inc. in their efforts to eliminate poverty and illiteracy among children.

As the presiding President of Africa Israel Asia (A.I.A.), an international trade organization of African Americans, Israelis, and Africans, Prince Asiel works to bring technology and trade in an efficient and humanistic structure that benefits people in the diaspora as well as on the Continent of Africa.

Representing 300 small African-American businesses, in order to promote trade in African and the Caribbean, Prince Asiel serves as the International Spokesperson for Straight Talk Economic Roundtable (S.T.E.R).

Having served as Chairman of First Africa Corporation, Prince Asiel organized numerous trade missions to Africa to establish export relationships between African American entrepreneurs and indigenous African private and governmental entities. Prince Asiel also served as board member of the International United Black Fund, the principle African American owned and operated charitable organization in the United States. Prince Asiel was the coordinator of African Development Programs Private Volunteer Organization (PVO) projects and Director of International Fundraising Projects.

Applying his experience of nearly thirty years of living and working in Africa, Prince Asiel has acted as special consultant and confidant to a number of political leaders and organizations including the World Conference of Mayors.

Prince Asiel has coordinated the convening of several international conferences and forums including:

-Organized a delegation of African-American Political leaders for the Fair Election in the 1998 Presidential election in Cameroon

-Presenter in the Emerging Global Political and Security Trends and Sustaining Leadership for the Next Century in the 1995 State of the World Forum “Toward a New Civilization” hosted by Milchail Gorbache

-The annual Holy Jerusalem Summit Conferences, which unite national and international leaders from Christian, Muslim and Hebrew communities in a serious dialogue for the development strategies which will ensure the survival and betterment of African Americans and ultimately the world

-The National Leader Council for African Americans, a solution-oriented think tank devoted to addressing the critical issues facing the community to name a few.

Among the many and diverse offices in which he has served are:

-Special Economic Advisor to the World Conference of Mayors

-National Leadership Council of African Americans

-Advisor to the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus

-Member of the African American Clergy Network of Chicago

-Member of the Board of Directors of the International United Black Fund

-Sponsor, Holy Jerusalem Summit Conference

The Ambassador has mastered International Studies at the University of Ghana in West Africa and at Makere University in Uganda. He has also obtained his doctorate from the School of Interactive Theology in Dimona, Israel at the School of the Prophets Institute.

Through his keen diplomacy, a commitment to African development and a serious dedication to fulfilling the vision and dreams inspired by our great forefathers; Prince Asiel Ben Israel has earned the title of one of the most important champions of freedom anywhere in the history of the world.