The United States State Department has smuggled 60 Jews out of Yemen in recent months due to fear for their lives, reports the Wall Street Journal. Another 100 of Yemen's Jews may follow.
The resettlement project began in July, following several attacks on Jews in Yemen, including the murder of Jewish community leader Moshe Yaish al-Nahari.
Several of the recent arrivals from Yemen to the U.S. described growing anti-Semitism and fear of attack prior to their departure. “They throw stones at us. They curse us. They want to kill us,” said Salem Suleiman of his former Muslim neighbors. Another recent arrival from Yemen, Shaker Yakub, described how he and his family dressed as Muslims in order to escape Yemen without problems.
State Department officials reportedly hope that by rescuing Yemen's Jews, they can avoid the bad publicity that would result from further attacks on Yemen's Jews and thus maintain support for the administration of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has made efforts to demonstrate goodwill towards his country's Jewish population, but has been unable to reign in increasing violence from local Muslim extremists.
The new arrivals from Yemen are being assisted in America by several Jewish organizations. Most have been resettled in the town of Monsey, a primarily hareidi-religious community in New York.
Jews have lived in Yemen for more than 2,000 years. In 1949 most of Yemen's Jews were brought to Israel in “Operation Magic Carpet” following a wave of anti-Semitic violence and slayings in wake of the establishment of the State of Israel. The hundreds of Jews who remained in Yemen until recent years faced renewed threats of violence in 2007. Threats of violence forced Jews to congregate in the city of Raida, where they soon faced attack yet again.
The growing violence led to reports over the summer that Jewish life in Yemen would soon come to an end, with almost all of the country's Jews moving to either the United States or Israel.