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Yemen’s last Jews may leave: Houthis’ motto “curse Jews, victory to Islam”

Feb 16, 2015 8:08 am By Robert Spencer

YemenijewsThis Reuters article is deeply anti-Israel: “Yemen’s Jewish community numbered over 40,000 until 1949, when Israel organised their mass transfer to the newly-established state. Those who stayed say they had lived in peace with their neighbours in the Muslim Arab country.”

This is not the whole story by any means. Professor Shmuel Trigano fills in some of the gaps: “In Yemen, sharia law was instated in 1913, worsening the situation of the dhimmi. Decrees specifying forced conversion for orphans were issued between 1922 and 1928, while Jews were excluded from public service positions and the army….In Yemen, a series of riots and lootings took place in 1931 and 1947 (with eighty people killed). An accusation of ritual crime was leveled against the Jews in Sana’a in 1948….Yemen prohibited Jews from leaving the country in 1949.”

The ones who remained in the country were subjected to ongoing harassment and discrimination. But for Reuters, their problem is not with Yemen, but with Israel.

“Yemen’s last Jews eye exodus after militia takeover,” Reuters, February 15, 2015 (thanks to Lookmann):

SANAA: A few worried families are all that remain of Yemen’s ancient Jewish community, and they too may soon flee after a Shia militia seized power in the strife-torn country this month.

Harassment by the Houthi movement – whose motto is “Death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam” – caused Jews in recent years to largely quit the northern highlands they shared with Yemen’s Shias for millennia.

But political feuds in which the Jews played no part escalated last September into an armed Houthi plunge into the capital Sanaa, the community’s main refuge from which some now contemplate a final exodus.

Around six Yemeni Jews from the same family arrived in Israel on Friday, members of the community told Reuters.

“Since last September, our movements have become very limited for fear of the security situation, and there are some members of the community who preferred to leave Yemen,” sighed chief rabbi Yahya Youssef, sitting in his apartment within a walled compound next to ministry of defence.

Dressed in the traditional Yemeni flowing robe, blazer and headwrap, Rabbi Yahya’s lined face is framed by two long curls on each side. Along with Hebrew he and his co-religionists speak Arabic, value local customs and are wary of life beyond home.

“We don’t want to leave. If we wanted to, we would have done so a long time ago,” Yahya said as his infirmed old father rested in the sun outside their home.

Jews evacuated from the Houthi stronghold of Saada province in 2009 to the government-guarded compound have dwindled from 76 to 45. A group of 26 others live in a city north of the capital.

Their total number is down from around 200-300 just a few years ago and now makes up a tiny fraction of Yemen’s 19 million-strong population.

Yemen’s Jewish community numbered over 40,000 until 1949, when Israel organised their mass transfer to the newly-established state. Those who stayed say they had lived in peace with their neighbours in the Muslim Arab country.

“Our problem lies with Israel”

Boredom and isolation reign at the Jews’ lodgings in their unlikely ghetto in a luxury enclave called “Tourist City” near the now-evacuated United States embassy.

Cut off from the carpentry and metalworking shops that were their renowned trade for centuries, residents now subsist on small government allowances that they say barely meet their living costs.

Young men who venture into the souk often tuck their distinctive curls up into their headwraps for fear of bullying. Boys are no longer eager to grow them in the first place.

The local Houthi official now responsible for the surrounding neighbourhood visited Rabbi Yahya on Thursday to offer reassurances, according to a Reuters correspondent who was present.

“Jews are safe and no harm will come to them,” said Abu al Fadl, who like other leaders in the movement goes by a nom de guerre and not his given name.

“The problem of the Houthis is not with the Jews of Yemen but with Israel, which occupies Palestine,” he added.

But memories of death threats and Houthi fighters burning down Jewish homes during the militia’s decade of on-off war with the now non-existent Sanaa government will not be soon forgotten….

“Death threats and Houthi fighters burning down Jewish homes.” Yes, clearly their problem is with Israel, not with the Jews of Yemen.

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Filed Under: Featured, Islamic antisemitism, Yemen Tagged With: Houthis, Sana'a


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Comments

  1. ApolloSpeaks says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 8:38 am

    SLAIN CHAPEL HILL STUDENT

    was an anti-Israel pro-Islamist 9/11 truther.

    Click http://www.apollospeaks.com for the story.

  2. Alarmed Pig Farmer says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 9:57 am

    I’ve always been troubled that there were Jews living at the south end of the Peninsula. Hey, this is the land on which Mecca and Medina sit, the two holiest cities. Gonna have Sacred Ground with Jews hanging around? It’s about time. Even as nearly perfected as Islam is as a perpetual motion machine, the Holy Prophet tried to rid Arabia of Jews 1,400 years ago and now here we are many centuries later finally able to get her done. Praise Allah! Lo! Let it be seen that the sons of Apes and Pigs are finally got rid of. There is so much excitement these days about the explosive growth of Islam, with all the other big Islamonews, few will notice this momentous cleansing, and that’s a darned shame.

    • Miles says

      Feb 16, 2015 at 10:47 pm

      Abrahim/Avraham was Father to Muslims and Jews so you are saying we all descended from apes and pigs? You see, oink, we are half brothers! Somehow we got the smart genes and u dumbass got the pig’s palate: likes to eat shit!

  3. Angemon says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 10:01 am

    Jews are safe and no harm will come to them,” said Abu al Fadl, who like other leaders in the movement goes by a nom de guerre and not his given name

    No muslim would come out openly to say such a thing, unless for the purpose of taqqyia.

    • Rob says

      Feb 16, 2015 at 10:52 pm

      Yeah.
      How much trust can you put in the assurances of someone who fears for his life if the statement is attributed to him?
      Is this the ‘end times’?

  4. Kevin Walker says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 11:58 am

    Now, how about repatriating mohammedans from the western countries??
    If we in the west are serious about solving this problem of islamic terrorism in our countries then there’s only one peaceful & economical solution: Repatriate mohammedans from our countries. It has been proved without any doubt that mohammedan culture & social values are incompatible to western society and majority of mohammedans now residing in our countries have shown little interest in abandoning those barbaric manners & assimilate into the host society. The experiment of multiculturalism has thoroughly failed, of course, our lords (the politicians) won’t admit their mistake & will continue their rant ‘all’s well’ & ‘religion of peace’ all the while everyday coining new terms for this islamic barbarity.

    • Rob says

      Feb 16, 2015 at 10:53 pm

      Demigrate Muslims NOW!

  5. el-cid says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 11:59 am

    “Harassment by the Houthi movement – whose motto is “Death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam” – caused Jews in recent years to largely quit the northern highlands they shared with Yemen’s Shias for millennia.”

    Millennia? Jews have lived in Yemen since ancient times. Not so Muslims,who are recent conquerors. Mohammed was not even born until the 6th century.

    The “problem’ of Israel is that the uppity Jews actually have the nerve to call it a Jewish State! How dare they. In Yemen, the Jews remain what they are in Muslim society, a lower class.

  6. Yochanan Charlot Gomer Cabrerah says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 12:15 pm

    THIS IS WHAT THE ALMIGHTY CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH SAID ABOUT PEOPLE CURSING AND BLESSING THE YAHUDIT

    Bereshith 12:1-3

    1 Now the ADON had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

    2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

    3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

  7. Jack Holan says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 3:14 pm

    I am 99% sure of the purpose of this article aside from the obvious that it slams Israel. You must ask yourself about the timing of the article and why it is going out of it’s way to declare the difference of consideration between Jew and israel. In the World of Anti-Semitism amongst the Left and Far Right and Muslims it has been vogue to be Anti-Semitic under the guise of being Anti-Israel. An example would be using NAZI imagery to condemn Israel when NAZI atrocities were exclusive to Jews for being Jews and not any other religion. Another more easy example to digest is condemning American Jews for perceived actions by Israel as if Jews and Israel are one monolithic entity. Where does this all fit into this story? European Jewry is once again questioning their place in Europe if any due to safety and security concerns due to Anti-Semitic attacks that have risen exponentially in the last few years since Anti-Israel groups have significantly stepped up their activities in Europe as well as North America. So, Reuters (not known to be friendly towards Israel-being generous to even say that) writes how Israel puts at risk an Ancient community that stayed in Yemen depriving those who stayed behind their generations craft. They had been treated well in Yemen and didn’t have problems with their Arab neighbors. The claim that they lived harmoniously with their Arab neighbors is claimed by every Arab country where Jews fled. One needs to think about this critically. If it was a comfortable relationship with equal treatment, does anyone believe whole communities would get up and leave? In most cases the host countries stripped them of their valuable assets before they left with the clothes on their back and maybe a satchel or suitcase. So, let’s get real. Also, almost universally Sephardim were treated as second class citizens in their host countries and occasional pogroms. If this “investigative journalist” she may have interviewed Yeminis of the same age of the Rabbi in Israel and get their story and perception of the way it was is Yemen in 1949. This probably did not fit her agenda or that of Reuters.

  8. cs says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 5:27 pm

    Does any one remember her?
    She was born in Yemen.

    • dumbledoresarmy says

      Feb 16, 2015 at 11:16 pm

      *I* remember her.

      Not sure when I first came across her. I love,love,love her voice.

      I love her singing “Jerusalem of Gold”.

      And singing Song of Songs 8: 6-7, in the original Hebrew, a capella.

      Glorious.

      Here’s another song from her: Shaday.

    • pumbar says

      Feb 16, 2015 at 11:39 pm

      Probably running a kebab shop in Blackburn.

  9. DVult says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 5:48 pm

    Yemeni Jews to Israel palestinian puslums to Yemen. Then seal the border and it’s goodbye, so long.

    • Kepha says

      Feb 17, 2015 at 12:02 pm

      Actually, it isn’t just Yemeni Jews who moved to Israel. Try those of Iraq (Jewry’s second homeland since the 8th century B.C.), Syria, Egypt, the Maghreb…

      Israel has given no-questions-asked citizenship to the Mizrahim, and has even had leading generals and politicians of non-European origin; whereas the Arab descendants of an-Nakhbar remain stateless to the fourth and even fifth generation. This is one of the BIG imbalances in the Israeli and Arab positions.

  10. Lord Wrath says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 8:33 pm

    “We don’t want to leave. If we wanted to, we would have done so a long time ago”,,, Sorry,,, but any Jew stupid enough to have stay in Yemen deserves whatever they get…

  11. dumbledoresarmy says

    Feb 16, 2015 at 11:19 pm

    I hope to G-d that every last Jew left in Yemen can be gotten out. To Israel, or to Australia or Canada.

    And am praying that a gateway of escape may open up for the remaining Jews trapped in Iran.

  12. Lookmann says

    Feb 17, 2015 at 9:06 am

    During Israel’s re-birth in 1948, an American pilot contracted to airlift several hundred Yemeni Jews in a single mission, did some more lifting, moved by the plight of his passengers.

    Will there be any saviours from U S , this time?

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