Tens of Yemenite Jews, who were rescued from Yemen to Cairo in 2021 by an Arab country without diplomatic relations with Israel, are now hoping to immigrate to Israel, according to Zman Yisrael
The refugees, part of a group of over 100 who were brought to Cairo, have come to the conclusion that they will not receive US citizenship as they had hoped and have turned their attention to Israel. [many of them identify with Satmar, which had encouraged them to apply for US citizenship.]
The group is headed by Yosef Levi, and most of them are from the Marhabi and Hamdi families. A few weeks ago a relative of the families from Israel visited them and some said they had despaired from reaching the US. Others are still hoping to reach the US, which demands that they waive their Yemenite passports if they wish to receive refugee status. There are other procedural difficulties with moving to the US.
Dr. Yigal Ben-Shalom, a former Welfare Ministry director-general and now the head of the association for developing the community, culture and heritage of Yemen, told Zman Yisrael that “Israel is the homeland which the Jews of Yemen prayed to and yearned for, and to here Jews from Yemen should come.” Ben Shalom is trying to promote their aliya via the Jewish Agency and the International Fellowship.
In 2021, an Arab country helped Israel evacuate close to 100 Jews from Yemen and move them to Egypt. The rescued Jews were the final remnant of a community with a two millennia history. They lived in a secure complex in Sana’a, protected by the authorities from being harmed by the Houthi rebels, who had taken control over large parts of Yemen during the Muslim country’s yearslong civil war.
The Jews moved to Sana’a after their stay in a less secure compound in Raydah, a city to the north of the capital, once home to a large Jewish community. But in Sana’a, the danger was visible every day, and the need to evacuate them from Yemen became critical.
Israel requested emergency assistance on the matter from an Arab country that does not have ties with Jerusalem. Envoys of that country traveled to Sana’a to conduct negotiations on the evacuation of the Jews from the compound.
At the same time, the Arab country negotiated with Egypt to agree to settle the Yemenite Jews in Cairo. As part of the complicated deal between the Arab country, Israel and Sana’a, the Yemenis refused to allow the Jews to come to Israel — particularly those with first-degree relatives in the Jewish state.
And so, close to 100 Jews left Yemen in 2021 for a compound in Cairo — all with foreign funding. The operation was managed by a special envoy, who remains anonymous, on behalf of the unidentified Arab country.
Unfortunately, one Jew, Salem Levi Marhabi, was forbidden to leave by the government and remained in Yemen. Marhabi is now believed to be the last Jew living in Yemen, and the special envoy travels to Sana’a every month to check on his well-being.
Marhabi had lived in Israel in the past but returned to Yemen due to difficulties assimilating into the country. Before his return, he was pictured in March 2016 with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the two, together with other Yeminite immigrants, were looking at an ancient 800-year-old Torah scroll that had been smuggled into Israel from Yemen — an incident that raised the ire of the Yemeni authorities, not just the Houthis.
Shortly after the picture was taken, Marhabi returned to Yemen and was arrested upon his arrival. In 2018, he was sentenced to three years and six months in jail. Although his term ended some time ago, he was not released from prison. Three months ago, the Makor Rishon daily wrote that Marhabi is held in a Houthi prison and that, according to reports, he experienced torture and has lost all of his teeth.
According to sources in the unnamed Arab country, Jews who live today in the closed compound in Cairo are not a burden on the Egyptian authorities. They are engaged in silversmithing and earn their own living. Their artistic products have become in high demand in the city.
In fact, the Yemenites from Sana’a are probably the only Jews living in Egypt after the community in the country disintegrated over the years. The Egyptian police are the ones keeping an eye on the new community today.
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