Yemenite Jews - Present Situation

Present Situation

Today the overwhelming majority of Yemeni Jews lives in Israel.

In Yemen itself, there exists today a small Jewish community in the town of Bayt Harash (2 km away from Raydah). They have a rabbi, a functioning synagogue and a mikvah. They also have a boys yeshiva and a girls seminary, funded by a Satmarer affiliated Hasidic organization of Monsey, New York, USA.

A small Jewish enclave also exists in the town of Raydah, which lies approximately 45 mile north of Sana'a. The town hosts a yeshiva, also funded by a Satmar affiliated organization.

Yemeni security forces have gone to great lengths to try to convince the Jews to stay in their towns. These attempts, however, failed and the authorities were forced to provide financial aid for the Jews so they would be able to rent accommodation in safer areas.

In December 2008, 30 year old Rabbi Moshe Ya'ish al-Nahari of Raydah was shot and killed by Abed el-Aziz el-Abadi, a former MiG-29 pilot in the Yemeni Air Force. Abadi confronted Nahari in the Raydah market and shouted out "Jew, accept the message of Islam", and opened fire with an AK-47. Nahari was shot five times, and died. During interrogation, he proudly confessed his crime, and stated that "these Jews must convert to Islam". Abadi had murdered his wife two years before, but had avoided prison by paying her family compensation. The court found Abadi mentally unstable and ordered him to pay only a fine, who proudly confessed to the crime, was eventually sentenced to death by an appeals court. Following al-Nahari's murder, the Jewish community expressed their feelings of insecurity, claiming to have receive hate mail and threats by phone from extremists. Dozens of Jews reported receiving death threats and claimed they had been subjected to violent harassment. Nahari's killing and continual antisemitic harassment prompted approximately 20 other Jewish residents of Raydah to emigrate to Israel. In 2009, five of Nahari's children moved to Israel, and in 2012, his wife Louisia and four other children followed, having initially stayed in Yemen so Louisia could serve as a witness for Abadi's trial.

On November 1, 2009 the Wall Street Journal reported that in June 2009, an estimated 350 Jews were left in Yemen, and by October 2009, 60 had immigrated to the United States and 100 were considering following suit. BBC estimated the community at 370 and dwindling.