You could be forgiven thinking that this interview with Rabbi Said Ben Yisrael, who was secretly spirited to Israel with his family from Yemen recently, appeared in an Israeli newpaper. Surprise, surprise - it was in the Saudi-owned London Arab paper Al-Sharq-al-Awsat. (With thanks: Tom Gross)
Bin Yisrael fell silent at this point, as revealing the details of how his family came to Israel is strictly forbidden. Israeli military classification prohibits the publication of any such details; all Bin Yisrael reveals is that following the hand-grenade incident, his wife informed him that she would not spend one more day in Yemen, and the next day Rabbi Bin Yisrael informed her that they would be leaving for Israel. He told his wife, along with his eldest daughter Esther, not to reveal this information to anyone but to say that they were all travelling to America to visit family. He sold his car for half its worth, and bought a new Yemeni oven for making bread, packed his things, and then he and the family went to a hotel in Sanaa where they awaited the signal from the Jewish Agency for Israel [JAFI]. When the family eventually arrived in Israel, they were greeted at Ben Gurion Airport by Israeli officials, members of JAFI, and members of the press. At the press conference [held there] Bin Yisrael said “Thank God we arrived safely. We are safe now. We have nothing against the Yemeni government; our problem lies only with the militants.”
From the airport the family was taken to the Immigrant Absorption Centre in the city of Beersheba for orientation on life in Israel. Here the family learnt about life in Israel, learning Hebrew, and participating in recreational programs and prayers, while also attending lectures on life in Israel and Zionism.
After three months at the Immigration Absorption Centre, the Bin Yisrael family will move to the city of Beit Shemesh, which lies between Jerusalem and Beersheba, where they will stay with relatives. State grants contribute 15 thousand dollars towards the price of a house, in addition to the availability of a loan. Bin Yisrael said, “Look at the joy of the children here! In Yemen they were trapped [in the house] as their mother forbade them from going out, but since our migration they are running all over the place…Here they don't want to stay still or go to sleep!"
While the emigration of the Yemeni Jewish family, which was carried out by Israeli Special Forces, was met with support throughout Israel, there are different feelings in Yemen, especially in light of the government's silence on this issue. According to a number of sources within the Yemeni Jewish community, Yemeni Jews have been subject to harassment by persons believed to be extremists even prior to the outbreak of the Gaza War last year, which may have been “the straw that broke the camel’s back” so to speak.
Asharq Al-Awsat spoke with Brigadier General Mohamed Al-Ramli, Chairman of Yemeni Immigration and Passport Control, who declined to comment on the migration of the Yemeni Jews, and any link between this and the Ministry of Interior. Asked whether the Jewish family had passed through the airport, the Director of Sanaa Airport, along with the Chief of Security, both denied having any knowledge of this transfer.
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