[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] Surprisingly positive Arabic article about Yemenite Jews

Yemenite Jews with Shimon Peres - photo in Yemen media

A couple of Yemen news sites have published a relatively honest history of the Jews of Yemen.

In general, the tone is positive, describing the Jews who lived there more than 2000 years ago.   Perhaps most surprising is that the article admits:

BWith the rise of Islam [the Jews were in an] unstable situation, although they enjoyed the status of dhimmis. ..What we know is that during the Middle Ages, the Jews of Yemen were under very difficult conditions. A king in that period named Abdul Nabi issued harsh judgments on the Jews. But Jewish philosophy and thought flourished in that period in Yemen more than ever before.

While they don't go into the details of the decrees of the king - he insisted that they convert to Islam or be killed - this is still a remarkable admission.

It also mentions a 1678 decree to expel all Jews from Yemen, that was later rescinded.

The article does skip other cases of persecution of Jews; as Wikipedia notes:

Active Muslim persecution of the Jews did not gain full force until the Zaydi clan seized power, from the more tolerant Sunni Muslims, early in the 10th century.

The Zaydi enforced a statute known as the Orphan's Decree, anchored in their own 18th century legal interpretations and enforced at the end of that century. It obligated the Zaydi state to take under its protection and to educate in Islamic ways any dhimmi (i.e. non-Muslim) child whose parents had died when he or she was a minor. The Orphan's Decree was ignored during the Ottoman rule (1872–1918), but was renewed during the period of Imam Yahya (1918–1948).[18]

Under the Zaydi rule, the Jews were considered to be impure, and therefore forbidden to touch a Muslim or a Muslim's food. They were obligated to humble themselves before a Muslim, to walk to the left side, and greet him first. They could not build houses higher than a Muslim's or ride a camel or horse, and when riding on a mule or a donkey, they had to sit sideways. Upon entering the Muslim quarter a Jew had to take off his foot-gear and walk barefoot. If attacked with stones or fists by Islamic youth, a Jew was not allowed to defend himself. In such situations he had the option of fleeing or seeking intervention by a merciful Muslim passerby

Still, this is about as positive an article as I've ever seen in Arabic media. It mentions the very real problems that Yemenite Jews had in the 1950s in Israel but it doesn't dwell on them.

The article ends with brief profiles of famous Israeli singers who are of Yemenite origin!

With all the explicit antisemitism in the Arab media, articles like this are rare but when they are published they need to be highlighted.

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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 4/10/2014 10:00:00 AM