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"Yemeni Jews currently have two synagogues, down from a reported 39 in the capital alone in 1930." More on this story. "Yemen's few Jews face rebel threats," from Agence France-Presse:
A few hundred Jews still live in Yemen despite temptations to leave the impoverished country, but recent threats by rebels from the Zaidi minority are driving some from their homes.
Threats by the rebels, who are fighting to restore the Zaidi imamate that was overthrown in a 1962 coup, were taken seriously by some nine Jewish families who until recently lived in the northern province of Saada.
All 45 of them have since fled their homes.
Several Jews were quoted as saying that they feared for themselves and their families after they were repeatedly warned by the rebels to leave immediately.
They said that the rebels from the Zaidi community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that is dominant in the northern mountains but a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen, gave them a 10-day ultimatum.
[...]
One rebel leader, Abdel Malak Al Huthi, confirmed in February that threats had been made against Jews in Salem village to make them leave.
"These Jews have a problem with the other inhabitants of the region, who have complained about them," he told the Arabic-language satellite channel Al Jazeera. "The people have demanded that these Jews leave because they have provoked damage ... by their admitted meddling in regional affairs and their moral corruption," he charged.
Like selling wine.
The three-year-old rebellion led by the Huthi family has left hundreds dead. Intense fighting resumed in January and has been raging in Saada province near the Saudi border ever since.
Jews insist on staying
Elsewhere in Yemen, the remainder of the 300-strong Jewish minority - the last remnants of a once much bigger community - continue to live safely.
Some insisted that they had no intention of emigrating.
"We have refused to leave Yemen, because we feel that the situation here is better. As Yemenis, we have our conservative customs and traditions," 43-year-old Saeed Al Naati said. "We feel that we are equal to Muslim citizens in rights and duties," said Naati, who lives in Kharef on the outskirts of Raydah, some 70 kilometers (40 miles) north of Sanaa.
[...]
Only 2 synagogues left
Yemeni Jews currently have two synagogues, down from a reported 39 in the capital alone in 1930.
They also have two private schools in Raydah and Kharef, which are funded by American Jewish societies. Jewish pupils go only to these two schools where they study Hebrew, Arabic, and English and learn the tenets of their religion.
But unlike the rest of the population of Yemen, Jews refrain from carrying weapons, in a country where almost every civilian male is armed. They do not even carry the traditional jambiya or dagger - an essential accessory for Muslim men in Yemen.
This Jewish tradition is based on their status as people of the book whose protection was considered the duty of the Muslim society in which they live.
And history has shown that it simply amounts to a delayed expulsion and/or extermination.
Posted by Marisol at May 3, 2007 7:21 AM
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Come home, my brothers and sisters. Please come home.
Posted by: Shy Guy![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 3, 2007 7:34 AM
One indicator of intelligence is knowing when it's time to leave.
They are committing acts of obstinate stupidity by staying there. It's way past time to leave
Posted by: PapaBear at May 3, 2007 7:58 AM
It is not stupidity that keeps them there. They've known nothing else for 2000 years.
Don't insult them. Pity them.
Posted by: Shy Guy at May 3, 2007 8:15 AM
unfortunately, they should look across the room and read the handwriting on the wall...if they insist on being unarmed, they can expect the Muslim violence that other Non Muslims have experienced in Muslim held lands...it is only a matter of time...
Posted by: exsgtbrown at May 3, 2007 8:19 AM
They have no idea what's happening "across the room. These are people that live in 19th century surroundings.
Posted by: Shy Guy at May 3, 2007 8:25 AM
Their exodus will be a big loss for Yemen. Most of the Yemeni men spend their days drugged out, chewing a leaf akin to cocoa leaves. So much the the 'moral corruption' the Islamist leader accused the Jews of possessing. The tiny Jewish community probably has a greater economic output than most of the rest of Yemen combined. This situation is another ethnic cleansing, like the one being committed against the few Serbs left in Kosovo. Of course, since the cleansing (threats and murders) are done by Muslims of their 'holy' lands, these actions go unnoticed by the rest of the world.
Posted by: maryrose at May 3, 2007 9:01 AM
Like the Jews in Iran, they cannot leave. The government will not give them exit permits. Also, the sharia-based laws forbidding non-Muslims carrying weapons are still on the books. Hence, Jews are not protected in the sense that the state protects its citizens who also have the right of self-defense. They are merely disarmed and wholly dependent on the state for protection because they have no right of self-defense.
chsw
Posted by: chsw at May 3, 2007 9:44 AM
Yemen was Jewish long before it was Muslim. The first Jews there probably arrived during the time of Solomon. After the Romans destroyed the temple in 70CE, thousands of Jews fled south to Yemen. Soon afterward a Christian community of Jewish origin also arose in Yemen. By the 5th Century, a Jewish dynasty ruled the Himyarite Kingdom of Yemen. Some of the more prominent Jewish kings were Rabiah ibn Mudhar and Yūsuf Asar Dhū Nuwas.
In the early 6th Century, there were power struggles between the Rabbinical Jewish community and the much smaller Jewish-Christian community. The Jewish kings were supported by the Persians as well as by the Zoroastrian Arabs of the Lakhmid kingdom in norther Arabia. The Jewish-Christians, who controlled Najran, were supported by Axum (Ethiopia) and Byzantium. This war weakened Himyarite Yemen so much that it was easy pickings for the Arab Muslims.
After this, both the Jews and the Jewish-Christians suffered under extreme dhimmitude but still maintained contacts with their co-religionists abroad. Sages such as Maimonides corresponded extensively with the Rabbis of Yemen and Byzantine patriarchs corresponded with the bishops of Najran.
After several attempts a liberation by a number of Yemenite self-proclaimed messiahs, the Jewish community turned inward for survival. When Muslim persecution became unbearable for the much-smaller Jewish-Christian community in Najran they moved back to Palestine. This Christian Tribe of Jewish origin, known as the Haddadeen, are the founders of the city of Ramallah. This city, now the administrative center of the PA, was until 1948 an almost completely Christian city, populated by Haddadeen descendants as well as indigenous Christians from Judea and Samaria.
Thus the historical links between Yemen and Israel are far more longlasting than Yemen's links with Islam. We should add Yemen to the list of nations conquered and colonized by Arab Muslim outsiders.
at May 3, 2007 10:10 AM
Incidently, the Himyarite language was spoken in the south-western Arabian peninsula until the 10th century when Arabic was forced on them by their Muslim rulers.
Posted by: Provoslavni at May 3, 2007 10:14 AM
"Also, the sharia-based laws forbidding non-Muslims carrying weapons are still on the books."
Posted by: chsw
so...sharia law forbids weapons , (the penalty if caught is death, no doubt)....The Islamic texts say "kill them where you find them"...
...If I were a Jew in Yemen, I would own a weapon..it is better to die fighting with a weapon than to die because you have no weapon...
at May 3, 2007 11:44 AM
Provoslavni,
Thanks for the short but to the point history lesson. We would all do well to learn history like this before it it rewritten by muslims.
Posted by: never_submit at May 3, 2007 11:56 AM
A friend who visited Yemen a few years ago relates this relevant story. In a small mountain village of impressive tall stone castles (belying the terrible poverty of its inhabitants) west of Saana, a local boy gave a tour of the place and mentioned the "Jewish section" of town. My friend asked to know more and the guide said that at one time the local leaders of the Jews and of the Muslims had a meeting and agreed that the Jews would leave altogether and the Muslims would buy from them what they did not take, including property. I am guessing this was in the 1960s?
When my friend asked "Why?" he replied that the Jews were troublesome because of their profitable silversmithing, which was luring local Muslim young men (and women?) away from their proper duties-- tending fields of potatoes, tomatoes and the like. It was clear that this young man's disdain for Jews was ingrained by indoctrination rather than direct experience.
Yet another indication that Islam is repressive by its very nature. Any attempt by its deluded followers to advance their lives is either crushed or inches along with great pain and resistance. In spite of this I have only heard good things about Yemenis in general and about her great landscapes, architecture and history. The ancient Sebaean Kingdom remains poorly known and possibly predates civilization in Iraq.
The Saudis have nothing but contempt for the darker skinned Yemenis, who furnish large numbers of menial workers. By comparison, the pre-oil history of KSA is little more than sand and dates and the finer attributes of the people of Yemen are not overshadowed by the oil wealth of neighboring states.
Posted by: lycaste at May 3, 2007 12:18 PM
As Provoslavni relates, it can be argued that the rich and fascinating (and violent) history of Yemen is more in spite of Islam than because of it. When the Ottomans took over, there were a few mountain top enclaves such as Kawkaban that the Turks never captured. "Fierce mountain people" fairly describes many groups around the planet, including various Yemenis.
Posted by: lycaste at May 3, 2007 12:26 PM
Provoslavni:
You are very scholarly. Thanks for the information about the history of Yemen. Can you reccommend a reference?
Posted by: usapatriot at May 3, 2007 9:06 PM
Usapatriot,
My primary source is an ancient text called "Ecclesiastical History" by John of Ephesus (506-586 AD/CE) who wrote a detailed account of the Jewish-Christians of Yemen. I have an English version in typed manuscript form. There are now a few excerpts on the web but the whole is not yet posted.
There is also an ancient Ethiopian epic called the "Kebra Nagast" (Book of Kings) is a semi-legendary account of Judaism and ancient Christianity in Ethiopia and Southern Arabia. An English translation can be found in some libraries. Another Ethiopian book told the story of the massacre under the title "The Book of the Himyarites" which is attached as an appendix to the English translation by the British archeologist E. A. Wallis Budge which I have. My copy is from 1932 but I think there is a paperback version available on Amazon. Unfortunately, the newer paperback version doesn't have the appendix.
A very quick internet search revealed a few websites mentioning Jews and Christians of ancient Yemen. I won't vouch for any of these below since I have an archaic mind and trust the ancient writers more than the modern.
http://debate.org.uk/topics/history/xstnc-7.html
http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Articles/companion/25_ali_bin_talib.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramallah
This article mentions the founding of Ramallah by Yemenite Christians of the Haddadeen tribe but doesn't go into their origins. The faithful of my own parish is mostly Haddadeen descendants from Ramallah so I have some personal knowledge here.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/yemenjews.html
http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2001/11/daily-11-25-2001.shtml
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=33&letter=Y
http://robertlindsay.blogspot.com/2006/09/jews-of-saudi-arabia-yemen-and-lebanon.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemenite_Jews
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanaani_Hebrew_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_Yemen
Thanks to all above for the kind words.
Posted by: Provoslavni at May 3, 2007 10:19 PM
One thing is clear from all the ancient texts. The Muslim accusation that Arabia was in Jahaliya (darkness) before Muhammed is a lie. There were thriving communities of Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and pagans. The darkness came when Islam destroyed the vibrant civilizations of ancient Arabia.
Posted by: Provoslavni at May 3, 2007 10:26 PM
Australia: Young Muslims urged to enlist
http://sheikyermami.com/2007/05/04/australia-young-muslims-urged-to-enlist/
Scroll down and see how non-muslims ae treated in the egyptian army:
http://illustratedpig.blogspot.com/2007/05/encounter.html
at May 4, 2007 12:09 AM
Seriously folks, how many of us would want to live in a country where every other male is armed except the ones of your clan?
I know I wouldn't.
Posted by: ProudDhimmi at May 4, 2007 8:49 AM
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