In 2018, Tiffany’s father passed away and she honored him by talking about her Eritrean heritage at the Oscars. She went to Eritrea for the first time to reconnect with his family and received her Eritrean citizenship a year later. Even still, Eritrea has been in civil unrest because of its dictatorship government and history with the Ethiopian regime.

“I love my father so much and maybe he didn’t get to raise me but he instilled enough for me in my blood,” she said to the Eritrea Ministry of Information (via Africa News). He taught me a lot during the time I did get to spend with him. I want to honor him and I just want to be a good daughter.” Now, she’s honoring him by connecting with her Jewish heritage as well.

The unrest in Eritrea led to a mass exodus of Jewish people, mostly to Israel at the time. In the late 1800s during the pogroms, many Yemeni Jews emigrated to Eritrea with the help of Italian colonialism. As antisemitism heightened in Europe before World War II, many more Jews followed. However, when Eritrea was annexed into Ethiopia, the civil wars and violence led many Jews to leave the region and seek safety in Israel.

Tiffany likely has relatives who still live in Israel today. In the 1950s, over 500 Jewish people were living in Eritrea, but today, there's just one Jew left in the country. Because Ethiopia persecuted the Jews in which they were restricted from leaving, many Jewish people took the first opportunity they had to make their way to Israel. Others fled to Europe and the U.S., but not as many.

Tiffany spoke about her experience in Israel on TMZ Live, saying she wants peace on both sides. Despite this, the backlash prompted by her visit led her to feel like she’s “all alone,” but we want her to know that we are here for her!