Motive currently "unknown." Whatever the motive, background facts are telling, such as the fact that, though Yemen once had tens of thousands of Jews, only 400 currently remain. "Muslim extremist kills Yemeni Jew," from the Associated Press, December 12 :
A suspected Muslim extremist has been arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a Yemeni Jew, a Yemeni police official said.The official said Moshe Yaish Nahari was gunned down in the northern town of Riydah on Thursday, but that police had little information about the motive behind the killing.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Said Jacob, a friend of the Nahari family, confirmed the 39-year-old Jewish man was gunned down but did not know the identity of the assailant.
Most of Yemen's roughly 400 remaining Jews live in Riydah. The poor country at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula once had tens of thousands of Jews, but most have emigrated.
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2008/12/sharia-killed-yemenite-jew.html
" Eyewitnesses told the newspaper that el-Abadi had confronted Nahari at the market in Rida, called out to him "Jew, accept the message of Islam" and then proceeded to open fire with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Nahari was struck by five bullets.
To Yemen's credit, this is an anomaly, and the government stepped in to arrest the murderer. Unfortunately, the only reason that the killer was on the streets is because of Islamic law:
According to the preliminary investigation, the suspect had murdered his wife just two years ago, but avoided jail time by offering her family compensation.
Sharia allows the family of the victim to make such a choice, and this is why Moshe Yaish-Nahari is dead today."
Most of Yemen's roughly 400 remaining Jews live in Riydah. The poor country at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula once had tens of thousands of Jews, but most have emigrated.
.................
When I was in college, one of my editors told me she had spent time in Israel in the late '70s. She had volunteered to help Jewish refugees navigate the social services system. She had the idea that she would be dealing mostly with "refuseniks" from the Soviet Union.
Instead, she found herself dealing almost entirely with large numbers of Yemeni refugees. Hotel rooms set up originally for couples held entire families. She heard terrible stories of violence and oppression, which at first she had assumed were exaggerations, because they were so extreme. Finally, the stories were so similar, and the refugees so traumatized, that she started to credit the accounts.
This community had been very isolated, and knew very little about life outside their villages. Suddenly they wound up in modern highrises in Tel Aviv. They felt completely overwhelmed. Nonetheless, most were extremely grateful, and knew they were lucky to have been rescued.
From Wikipedia:
If one includes Aden, there were about 63,000 Jews in Yemen in 1948. Today, there are about 200 left...
The Israeli government's Operation Magic Carpet evacuated around 44,000 Jews from Yemen to Israel in 1949 and 1950. Emigration continued until 1962, when the civil war in Yemen broke out. A small community remained unknown until 1976, but it appears that all infrastructure is lost now...
..............
I think it was members of this last cited group who my friend worked with in the 1970s. The few Jews now left in Yemen are just a tiny remnant, but even they are not safe. Muslims will not be satisfied until Yemen is "Juderein". This has happened throughout the "Muslim world". Jewish and other minorities are being systematically driven out or murdered.
If there is anyone reading here who *hasn't* read Leon Uris' "Exodus"...do so. It's much better than the film that was loosely based upon it. It's a heavily fictionalised but poetically 'true' account of the resurrection of the Jewish state of Israel. People familiar with the actual history will recognise certain historical characters - e.g. Orde Wingate - in fictional guise, under other names. The account of the vote at the UN in 1947 is, however, strictly factual: the list of those nations which voted, who said Yes, who said No, and who abstained.
Embedded in it is a fictionalised, but tremendously moving account of 'Operation Magic Carpet'. Just go to the back of the book and read the chapter titled 'With Wings as Eagles'.
And here is something about Yemen, from the jihadwatch/ dhimmiwatch archives, from two years ago:
It appeared in this thread
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/013636.php
that was discussing Pakistani blasphemy laws and how they are used to victimise non-Muslims:
One poster (aynrandgirl) observed:
'Now that I think about it, except in the unlikely case that a Muslim chooses to defend a non-Muslim in court, isn't any criminal charge against a non-Muslim an automatic conviction?
Another replied:
'Exactly so. Which is why, in traditional sharia societies, in order to survive, each dhimmi head-of-household must form a client/patron relationship with a Muslim 'protector', who will protect his dhimmi client from abuse by other Muslims, will bear arms in his defense (dhimmi are forbidden to arm themselves, and can expect to be lynched if they so much as lift a hand to a Muslim), and will testify on his clients' behalf in sharia court.
*'If* the protector wishes to {and supposing he doesn't? - dda}.
'And always for a price {and I'll bet, a steep one..and if you can't pay? ...dda}.
'I have never lived under sharia, but I have known former dhimmi who did, in Yemen back in the bad old days.
'They tell me it was hell on earth to live that way,
'and that they would die before they would go back.
'More to the point, they would kill before they would go back.
- Posted by: ElderlyZionist at October 18, 2006 3:14 PM
And 'Elderly Zionist' then added the following:
'I was once told a story about Yemen in the bad old days, before the Jews had left, about how Muslims 'protected' their dhimmi. I don't know whether it's true, but I believe it.
'An Arab sheikh went to visit his neighbor, who welcomed him warmly. "Oh Abu Mustafa, my old friend. I'm glad you came to visit, it's been far too long. Please come sit, drink some coffee, and tell me what has brought you to my home today."
"Oh Abu Usama, my dear friend, it is black trouble that has brought me here. I am sorry to say that your sons have done something very wrong; they have damaged my honor, and if this thing is not made right, then there must be war between your clan and mine."
"Oh Abu Mustafa, this must not be! Now tell me how my sons have offended you, and for the sake of our old friendship, and of the peace between our families, surely I will make it right."
"Oh Abu Usama, your sons have shot one of my Jews, and raped his wife and daughter.
"This Jew was under my protection! By harming him, your sons have damaged my honor, and that of my whole clan.
"Now for the sake of my honor, and for the respect that is due my family, I must demand justice of you, and satisfaction for the harm done to my Jew."
"Oh Abu Mustafa, my old friend, I am so glad you came today to talk this matter over with me. You are completely right, and what my sons have done was very wrong. Surely, for the sake of our friendship and to keep the peace between us, I will give you justice.
"Now here is what I propose. Oh Abu Mustafa, let your sons come, and shoot one of my Jews, and rape his wife and daughter.
"So the balance between us will be restored, and your honor will be made whole."
"And so it was done."
- Posted by: ElderlyZionist at October 18, 2006 3:45 PM
Mr Fitzgerald has frequently posted about the peculiarly horrible Yemeni Muslim practice here described by Elderly Zionist who had been told of it by people who had endured it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxqH5PsSMhE&feature=related
This is great video about the Yemeni Jews and the airlift operation
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-693217217048940768
This is a longer documentary, 'The Forgotten Refugees,' about Middle Eastern Jews after the "Nakba."