Yemen’s Muslim Rulers Threaten Jews: Convert to Islam or Get Out

The Jews in Yemen were presented with an ultimatum by violent, anti-Semitic Muslim rulers – convert or leave the country.

A Yemenite governing body recently issued an ultimatum to the Jews in their country demanding that they forcibly convert to Islam or leave the country immediately, this according to a statement issued on Sunday by Israeli Deputy Minister of Regional Cooperation Ayoub Kara.

“No government or embassy would save or defend the Jews, and if they [the Jews] do neither – it is permissible to kill them,” the proclamation said.

Kara, a member of Israel’s Druze minority, said he received this information while speaking to a member of the Jewish Yemenite community.

The Jew asked Kara for assistance, and Kara said he would intercede with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for help.

Inquiries by the press on the matter, both to the Jewish Agency and Israel’s Foreign Ministry, were declined due to the “sensitivity of the issue and the lives at stake.”

Israel’s NRG news site quoted an Israeli official who said that Jerusalem is not aware of any such official government proclamation, but it is possible that a local ruler may have issued such an edict.

Shi’ite Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, have threatened the Jews in Yemen in the past. “We warn you to leave the area immediately… Ignore this message, and we give you a period of 10 days, and you will regret it,” they stated in January.

There are in estimated 100 Jews left in Yemen, and some 50 of them have expressed their desire to leave the country. The majority of the country’s 50,000 Jews have long left the poverty-stricken and war torn-country a half century ago, and in more urgency over the past last two decades, when violent Islam became a dominant force in the country.

By: Max Gelber, United with Israel