Yemen's remaining Jews increasingly under pressure

Jews living in Yemen are being threatened and targeted by locals because of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, the news service 'Media Line' reports. Attacks on Jews have stepped up since the offensive began at the end of December. The Yemenite government is planning to relocate some of Yemen's Jews to safer areas within the capital in order to protect them from revenge attacks. However, many are concerned this will result in a loss of property and isolation from the rest of the community.

Several hundred Jews living in the village of Reida, 50 miles north of the capital Sana'a, are scheduled to move to a residential compound in the capital, upon order of President Ali Abdallah Salih. Others were already relocated from the northern Sa'ada region to the capital last year and receive a monthly allowance from the government to cover rent and other expenses. Many of them are not working and live off government handouts and donations from overseas. Sa'id Yaqoub Israel, a Jewish resident of Reida, told 'Media Line' there were ongoing negotiations with the Muslim sheikhs in the area and there was still no conclusion as to whether they would stay or go. He said they have heard no news from the government regarding the move. The prevailing feeling among the Jews is that such a move would be a temporary measure until events in Gaza blew over.

Jews in Yemen, on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, are concerned about the growing antagonism towards them because of Israel's offensive in Gaza. There has been a growing number of verbal and physical expressions of violence against Jewish communities, who are perceived as being loyal to Israel, worldwide. Much of the anger in Yemen and elsewhere is fueled by pictures of death and destruction from Gaza that are being broadcast on practically all Arab satellite stations on a daily basis.

A Jewish Hebrew teacher, Masha Ya'ish A-Nahari, was killed by a Yemenite neighbor last month, before the Gaza operation began. He had previously received threats from Al-Houthi rebels, a Shiite minority that has been fighting government forces since 2004, with the aim of toppling the incumbent leadership. The Jewish community once numbered around 60,000 people, but most of them emigrated shortly after the state of Israel was established in 1948. Today, only a few hundred Jews remain. Eleven families, some 65 people, live in the capital in highly-secured residential compounds.