JERUSALEM ― Israel will not try to rescue a group of 280 Jews from Yemen despite a recent wave of attacks on the local population, a Jewish Agency spokesman said Thursday.
Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman for the Jewish Agency, told SababaNews that Yemenite Jews are free to immigrate to Israel if they want to, and added that Yemenite authorities are trying to protect Jews.
“No one is forcing Jews to remain in Yemen,” he said. “Even though most members of the community are religiously observant (i.e. Orthodox – editor), many view Yemen as their motherland and they really do not want to leave. They are loyal Yemenite citizens.”
Moshe Nahari, a leader of the tiny Jewish community in the town of Raidah, was shot and killed on December 11 in the town’s outdoor market. Eyewitnesses said the gunman shouted, “Jew, you must accept Islam” before shooting Nahari. Since then, other Jewish people in Riadah have been attacked and Jewish leaders have asked the Yemenite government for protection. There are also reports that the government is planning to move the community from Raidah to Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, where it would be easier for police to protect them.
Jews have lived in Yemen for more than 2,700 years, making it one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. Some people believe that the first Jews to settle in Yemen moved their from the Land of Israel in 629 BCE, when the prophet Jeremiah predicted that that the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed.
Relations with non-Jewish Yemenites have often been good, and over the years many Jews served in the government, were respected artisans and were considered to be full-fledged Yemenites. But relations with Moslems have often been difficult since Moslems conquered Yemen in the year 631. When Moslems have ruled Yemen, Jews were often called dhimmis, or second-class citizens, and forced to pay special taxes for refusing to convert to Islam.
Today, the 400 Jews who live in Yemen are full-fledged citizens of the country, and the government of Yemen is supportive of the Jewish community even though the majority of Yemenites are Moslem.
