8 Kislev 5776
The Redemptive Story Behind Cyclone Chapala | part 2 | part 3
UPDATE 21/3/16: Secret operation rescues last group of Yemen Jews
UPDATE 7/3/16: Houthis force Jewish children to fight in Yemen; one killed
UPDATE 15/12/15: Ceasefire Reached in Yemen Civil War - Praying that the Jews there can leave now...
Since the last article I was to translate is quite short, I decided to simply summarize what it says, and then follow up to see what happened and maybe give a broader perspective on those Middle East/African Jews still seeking aliyah. All emphases are mine.
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| Elderly Temani man. From B'Hadarei Hadarim. |
Essentially, on 11 October, Eli Cohen wrote an article, “Yemenite Judaism in Danger:
Convert to Islam or leave” for the haredi website B’Hadarei Hadarim (Hebrew). Now that the Temani Jews in Yemen are down, from some 50,000 before Operation Magic Carpet in 1949-50, to between 80 and 90 souls today, the Houthi contingent had decided that it did not want any more to do with them. The government has not opposed them; it even published “a circular requiring the Jewish community to convert to Islam or leave the country.
The circular further stated that neither the government nor any embassy would protect the Jews if they do not do as directed, and it would be permissible to kill them.”
This is typical in the lands of dhimmitude. Convert, leave or die where you stand. That is what happened to Moshe Yaish Nahari. When you have a very small population among a large number of people (50,000 was a very small number among the 4.3 million Yemenis in 1950), one murder is enough to make everyone want to run for their lives. Yet, inertia can take over as well, when conditions are tolerable – and people are very adaptable. Back to the present…
Temani Jews in Israel number 350,000 now. Still a small number, but seven times more than there were in Yemen even before Magic Carpet. May they continue to increase and add their uniqueness to our nation, as others have.
One from among them, still unnamed, had sneaked out of the country and reached Israel, seeking to speak with the one Jew-friendly Arabic speaker in the Knesset, Acting Regional Cooperation Minister Ayoub Kara, who serves for the Likud party. They spoke, and MK Kara promised that he would speak with the Prime Minister about their urgent situation. As attributed to MK Kara in The Jerusalem Post, Yemen’s Jews
"want to leave there fast. We need to act fast to get them out and we will do that, God willing,” Kara continued. “The whole world ought to know that there is a problem with the Houthis.”
According to Kara, the Jews of Yemen are critical of the Jewish Agency and its efforts on their behalf, and he will work to arrange meetings between the Jewish representative from Yemen and agency chairman Natan Sharansky, Immigrant Absorption Minister Ze’ev Elkin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry told the Post he would not comment on the issue because it is “very delicate and people’s lives are at stake.”
A senior Jewish Agency official added, “There are some things that cannot be discussed publicly, for obvious reasons. The Jewish Agency has long been involved in efforts to rescue the remaining Jews in Yemen, and has often gone well beyond the call of duty to facilitate a way out for those who wish to leave, even in times of civil war and strife. We are not at liberty to comment further at this time."
While Israel’s media is silent about the details of the rescue, kindly pray for the safety and success of the mission and all involved.
In other news, 9,000 Ethiopians are getting ready to move to Israel and formally convert to Judaism.
Why am I dwelling on this topic, even though the cyclones are long gone? Muslim "refugees" have entered many countries and are still coming in waves like the ocean — and Europe and America are letting them in! Most countries that are not already Islamized do not know what is coming for them (although France does now). The Scandinavian countries are filled with them, and they know too.
This applies especially to Ashkenazic Jews, who never lived under Muslim rule. If you stay out there long enough, you will experience dhimmitude. It is not as nice as it has been made out to be; what I have shown in this article series is just a tiny drop. The Israeli government, being mostly Ashkenazic in culture if not religious practice, is learning the really hard way. I don't want it to be the same for you.
Even with our situation in Israel, it is still the safest country for a Jew, especially if that Jew intends to learn more about his or her heritage, with particular focus on why G-d especially chose Eretz Yisrael for us — and us for her.
Why am I dwelling on this topic, even though the cyclones are long gone? Muslim "refugees" have entered many countries and are still coming in waves like the ocean — and Europe and America are letting them in! Most countries that are not already Islamized do not know what is coming for them (although France does now). The Scandinavian countries are filled with them, and they know too.
This applies especially to Ashkenazic Jews, who never lived under Muslim rule. If you stay out there long enough, you will experience dhimmitude. It is not as nice as it has been made out to be; what I have shown in this article series is just a tiny drop. The Israeli government, being mostly Ashkenazic in culture if not religious practice, is learning the really hard way. I don't want it to be the same for you.
Even with our situation in Israel, it is still the safest country for a Jew, especially if that Jew intends to learn more about his or her heritage, with particular focus on why G-d especially chose Eretz Yisrael for us — and us for her.
More reading:
Jewish Exodus from Arab and Muslim Countries | Myths & Facts: Treatment of Jews in the Arab World | The Inconvenient Truth about Jews from Arab Lands | Why Jews Fled the Arab Countries | Jewish Population in Arab Countries 1948-2001* | The Expulsion of Jews from Muslim Countries, 1920-1970 | No, Muslim Refugees Are Not Jewish WWII Refugees
* After the fact, no one has counted all who lost their lives trying to leave, and at this point it would be impossible to determine. Thus, the earliest number is probably at least double what it says there. Only haShem knows.
After all these years, only a handful have survived the Golus and the Arab aggression. Haval!
ReplyDeleteYou deserve a lot of credit for the time and research you gave to this issue.
Thanks, Neshama. I think we're about at the point with dhimmitude where we were a few years after WWII with the Holocaust. The sad thing is, many Mizrahim don't quite realize what a heavy travesty they've been through (at least those I attempted to speak with about it - I even heard from one that the Holocaust was the worst thing that ever happened to the Jewish People.). The records, if any, are in Arabic and most Jews don't read it except for the Mizrahim.
ReplyDeleteThe Arabs' admiration of the Nazis during the war makes me think they kept records of all the Jews they ruled over, and probably always have, considering their obsession with us. I imagine it would be quite a revelation to see what we would find there, if we could.
Unfortunately, I don't read or speak Arabic. My Syrian grandparents passed away without my ever having met them.
It's so important to have known one's grandparents. Who do we ask those questions of? How do we relate to the past, in real time? I also did not know my grandparents, and only have the great grandparents matzeva plus my grandmothers grave to relate to. No family that remained religious, and some even Jewish. I researched as much as I was able before making Aliyah. What devastation the Golus has brought to the Jewish People.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that vexes me on the subject of Jews under Yishmaelite rule is how mostly Leftist or Ashkenazic Jews not only believe Mizrahi Jewish history to be a historical footnote at best, but also largely believe that Jews actually had it good under Yishmaelite rule and seeing the potential modern day return to a so-called Yishmalite ruled "Golden Age" as a good thing.
ReplyDeleteYet those afflicted with the Jewish version of Uncle Tom syndrome seem to be ignorant of the fact that it was the rise of European colonialism that Jews and other non-Yishmaelite peoples were freed from the yoke of Dhimmitude under Yishmaelite rule.