Some of the last Jews of Yemen brought to Israel in secret mission

[EC]

 Some of the last Jews living in Yemen were brought to Israel in a secret mission overnight Sunday, Channel 2 has reported.

Clandestine activity of the Jewish Agency culminated in the aliya of the 17 Jews according to the report.

The US State Department was reportedly involved in the mission and helped coordinate the complex transfer of the Jews after the group faced persecution on its way to Israel.


Among the new immigrants was Rabbi Saliman Dahari who arrived with his parents and his wife and met his children upon arrival at the absorption center in Israel. The rabbi brought with him an 800-year-old torah scroll. 

Yemen's Jewish community numbered over 40,000 until 1949, when Israel organized their mass transfer to the newly-established state in Operation Magic Carpet. In 2010 there were an estimated 150 Jews in the country. 

Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky said hailed the mission as a "significant moment in the history of Israel and of aliya."

"From Operation Magic Carpet in 1949 until the present day, The Jewish Agency has helped bring Yemenite Jewry home to Israel. Today we bring that historic mission to a close. This chapter in the history of one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities is coming to an end, but Yemenite Jewry’s unique, 2,000-year-old contribution to the Jewish people will continue in the State of Israel,” Sharansky said.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Report-Some-of-the-last-Jews-of-Yemen-brought-to-Israel-in-secret-mission-448639

[EC]

shlomi ben meir
‏@shlomikliab

After thousands of years, #Yemen is "free" of #Jews.
The last group of Yemenite Jews arrived in #Israel tonight.

[rangerrebew]

Israel evacuates 19 Jews from war-torn Yemen in covert operation
 
Last update:
Monday 21 March 2016 10:48 UTC
 

Israel has brought 19 Jews from Yemen to the country in a "complex, covert operation," officials said on Monday, noting they were among the last remaining in the war-torn country.

The Jewish Agency, responsible for Jewish immigration to Israel, said around 50 Jews are still in Yemen and have chosen to remain there. Yemeni Jews are considered one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world.

"Nineteen individuals arrived in Israel in recent days, including 14 from the town of Raydah and a family of five from Sanaa," the agency said in a statement.

"The group from Raydah included the community’s rabbi, who brought a Torah scroll believed to be between 500 and 600 years old."

Yemen has been gripped by violence since September 2014, when the Houthi militia group, who had long complained of marginalisation, stormed Sanaa and forced the internationally recognised government to flee south.

A Saudi-led coalition began bombing raids on Houthi positions across Yemen in March last year, but the insurgents still control swathes of the country including the capital.

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) militant group have gained ground in southern Yemen since the coalition launched its air campaign.

The Jewish Agency says more than 51,000 Yemeni Jews have immigrated to Israel since the country was founded in 1948.

Nearly 50,000 were brought over in 1949 and 1950 in a secret operation known as Operation Magic Carpet.
- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-evacuates-19-jews-war-torn-yemen-covert-operation-1102546276#sthash.7aqJ4o0q.dpuf