Security forces thwart assassination of Yemen Jewish community leader

Agents in Yemen have reportedly arrested two men who planned to assassinate Rabbi Yahya Yusuf Musa, the head of the small Jewish community in the predominantly Muslim country, after he had criticized Shiite rebels in northern Yemen for fighting against the government in a television interview . Musa told Reuters that he believed the men, who carried hand guns, had been sent by the rebels.

Yemen's tiny Jewish community has faced a difficult situation in recent years, underscored by the murder of Jewish teacher Moshe Yaish Nahari last year, in Omran, north of the capital Sana'a. A retired Yemeni air force pilot, was sentenced to death for the murder.

The ‘Wall Street Journal’ has reported that the US State Department recently flew nearly 60 Jews ot of Yemen and resettled them in the United States. According to the report, nearly 350 Yemenite Jews lived in the country before the operation. Those who have already moved to the US are likely to be joined by 100 more, while the remainder will most likely move to Israel. Reportedly, only 20 to 30 Jews have said that they want to remain in Yemen.