Jewish leader's murder sparks fear in Yemenite community

Assassination of Harun Yusuf Zindani in Sanaa market sparks fear over fate of Jewish community. Jewish Agency official: Yemen has been in Chaos since Arab Spring, Jews aren't safe

Murder of Yemenite Jewish leader puts community's future in question: A source involved in efforts to bring Yemenite Jews to Israel told Ynet on Tuesday that the members of the Jewish community in Yemen "are living in fear ever since the uprisings of the Arab Spring."

The murder of community leader Harun Yusuf Zindani in Sanaa on Tuesday further aggravated their fears, he noted.

Zindani, who emigrated from Yemen to Israel in the 1990s and returned to Yemen due to absorption hardships, was stabbed to death at Saawan market near the US embassy in northeast Sanaa, while shopping with his children.

"When he got out of the car a man jumped on him and stabbed him a number of times. He died shortly afterwards," said Ariel Di-Porto of the Jewish Agency.

"This murder is probably similar to the murder of Moshe Yaish-Nahari in 2008, which was executed due to his Jewish faith," She noted, adding that the Yemenite authorities are concerned about the negative effect these crimes will have on the country's international image.

Di-Porto said that since the Arab Spring uprisings, "Yemen is in chaos and the Jews are not safe. Tribes that are affiliated with al-Qaeda are posing a threat to the Jewish community, and Israel is monitoring the situation in an effort to bring them to Israel."

Since the murder of Nahari, who was also a known figure in the Jewish community, some 100 Jews immigrated to Israel. Today, the remaining Jewish community in Yemen numbers some 130 people, some of whom speak Hebrew.

According to Di-Porto, most of them work as goldsmiths, teachers and carpenters. Fifty of the community members live in a sealed-off neighborhood, which is heavily secured by the government in Sanaa. The rest of the community lives in the south of the country.

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