Hey Mr. Inquiring Mind - One of the five guys was a university student in Khartoum before he was arrested and tortured for alleged political activity, and he had heard of Israel. But the other four were simple subsistence farmers from remote, traditional villages - and they all said that they had never heard of Israel before their arrival in Egypt. And yes, they're all Muslims - they're black Africans, whereas the Janjaweed are Arabs, although they all speak Arabic and practice the same religion. I think we asked them about whether they practiced their religion on the kibbutz, which is totally secular, and they sort of brushed the question aside with a response like "no problem." I'm sure no-one would interfere with them practicing their religion. The kibbutz might serve pork in the dining hall, but you kind of have to go out of your way to find non-kosher beef in Israel, and since Muslims consider kosher meat hallal (I remember that little factoid from Sadat's visit to Israel), I guess food is not a problem.