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Yemeni Jews Seek New Future in Israel

(Middle East Eye-UK) Shira Rubin - In the past few years, 200 Yemeni Jews have been airlifted from Yemen to Israel, including 19 this week. Yemeni Jews have left a "failed state that has fallen through the cracks, where al-Qaeda, IS and a whole supermarket of radical Islamists are taking advantage of the chaos and bringing about a new level of ethno-religious divisions," said Uzi Rabi, director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. The remaining Jews in Yemen have increasingly become the target of animosity, harassment and hostility, largely from Shia Houthi rebels who overthrew the government last year and operate under the slogan: "God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews, victory to Islam." While many in the Jewish community feared that identification with Israel would endanger them, "at a certain point, more recently, they realized that they should start thinking about coming here, that even though they're leaving behind an ancient civilization, the situation is simply too dangerous," said Rabi, adding that the dozens who have stayed behind are likely elderly people.
2016-03-25 00:00:00
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