Eritreans planning ‘revolution’ in Tel Aviv warehouse: Haaretz report

Eritreans planning ‘revolution’ in Tel Aviv warehouse: Haaretz report

Submitted by MEE staff on Wed, 09/23/2026 - 11:36 Eritrea's exiled opposition is organising from Israel and other countries to overthrow President Isaias Afwerki and establish 'democratic rule' Israeli police detains Eritrean asylum-seekers protesting an event organised by Eritrea's government in the coastal city of Tel Aviv on 2 September 2023 (AFP) Off

Eritrean opposition figures are using a warehouse in southern Tel Aviv as one of several international hubs for a movement seeking to overthrow their country's government, according to an Israeli media report. 

The group, known as Brigade Nhamedu, says it is building a global political organisation capable of mobilising Eritreans in exile and eventually returning to the country to replace President Isaias Afwerki’s government.

According to a feature published in Haaretz magazine on Sunday, members of the movement in Israel recently joined Eritrean communities in 17 locations worldwide to elect a 51-member international council. Around 1,300 people participated in the Israeli vote, held last month in the central city of Nes Ziona.

The council has since met weekly to discuss funding, diplomatic outreach, establishing a base in neighbouring Ethiopia and communicating with people inside Eritrea, the report said.

Brigade Nhamedu is led by Beyene Gerezgiher, an Eritrean activist based in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. 

The movement also includes officials responsible for finance, diplomacy, community organisation and military planning.

“Behind us are masses of people ready to fight for their country,” Gerezgiher told Haaretz.

He said the movement had sources within Eritrea, including among senior government and military figures, but the newspaper did not independently verify the claim.

“We know the masses are waiting for us, especially in Asmara,” Gerezgiher said, referring to Eritrea’s capital.

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The organising comes against a backdrop of increasingly strained relations between Israel and the Eritrean government.

The two countries established diplomatic ties shortly after Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, the same year Afwerki was flown to Israel for treatment after falling seriously ill with cerebral malaria. But relations have since cooled, and Israel closed its embassy in Asmara in 2022.

In an interview with Middle East Eye this month, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh said Asmara had deliberately distanced itself from Israel.

“We decided we didn’t want their [Israeli] embassy here,” he said. “We are not antagonistic to Israel, but we just decided we didn’t want any relations.”

Saleh also accused Israel of seeking greater influence in the Horn of Africa and questioned its growing ties with Somaliland. “We have to ask why Israel is running to control the Horn of Africa. Why do they need a base in Somaliland?” he said.

A senior Eritrean official separately told MEE that Asmara had rejected a request by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) around 2016 for a military facility on an island in the Dahlak Archipelago that would have been shared with Israel.

Millions of refugees

Afwerki, 82, has governed Eritrea since 1993. The country has not held national elections for decades, while its constitution has never been implemented and independent media outlets have been closed.

Eritreans are also subjected to indefinite national service, a system that has been widely cited as a major factor driving people to flee the country.

Around two million Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers now live abroad. Brigade Nhamedu’s organisers say they hope to transform these scattered communities into a unified opposition capable of returning home.

The movement’s Israeli-based leadership includes Atakliti Abraham Michael and Mulue Sultan, both of whom fled Eritrea and later settled in Israel.

Michael told the newspaper his activism had taken a severe toll on his family. He said one of his sons had been imprisoned for two years before escaping Eritrea, while his youngest son, aged 14, remained in detention and faced eventual military conscription.

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“First of all, I’m fighting to get back to my children,” he said. “We have our national story, but each person also has his own personal story.”

Sultan, who arrived in Israel in 2008, said many Eritreans ultimately wanted to return despite having built lives overseas.

“No one wants to be a refugee forever, everyone wants to go home,” he said.

The movement became more visible following violent confrontations between opponents and supporters of Eritrea’s government in several countries.

In September 2023, clashes erupted in Tel Aviv around an event organised by the Eritrean embassy. At least nine Eritreans, from both pro- and anti-government camps, have been killed in Israel since then, according to a May 2025 UN report cited by Haaretz.

Dawit Teferi, the movement’s finance manager, said Brigade Nhamedu had not anticipated the violence and regretted that it occurred. However, he said the clashes demonstrated the intensity of Eritreans’ political attachment to their homeland and helped accelerate the formation of a more organised opposition.

Teferi, who is based in Washington, has also sought support from members of the US Congress and administration officials. He argued that the US, Israel and Gulf countries had a strategic interest in finding a partner in the Red Sea region.

Gerezgiher acknowledged that such contacts did not amount to official recognition and said the movement could not succeed without international backing.

He said Brigade Nhamedu had not yet recruited a fighting force but was preparing for an opportunity to enter Eritrea.

“We’re ready for the right moment,” he said. “And I think we’re close to it. Very close.”

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