Israel ‘rescues’ 19 Jews from war-hit Yemen

Israel has spirited 19 Jews out of war-torn Yemen in a “covert operation” to rescue some of the last remnants of one of the world’s most ancient Jewish communities, officials said on Monday.

The operation transporting them to Israel almost brings to an end the Jewish community in Yemen, which once numbered around 60,000 people and dates back some 2,000 years.

Only 50 or so Jews now remain in Yemen after choosing to stay, according to the Jewish Agency, responsible for immigration to Israel.

Most of them — around 40 — live in a protected compound adjacent to the US embassy in Sanaa.

“Nineteen individuals arrived in Israel in recent days, including 14 from the town of Raydah and a family of five from Sanaa,” the agency said in a statement.

“The group from Raydah included the community’s rabbi, who brought a Torah scroll believed to be between 500 and 600 years old.”

The Yemeni capital and the town of Raydah to its north are both controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels who are battling loyalists of the internationally recognised government and its supporters in a Saudi-led coalition.

The agency declined to provide details of the operation, but a spokesperson said it took several months to prepare.

It was initially to be carried out last week, but was delayed. They were taken to an immigration centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.

In a related development, the UN expert on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories Makarim Wibisono voiced scathing criticism of Israel on Monday in Geneva as he stepped down over what he said was a lack of access to areas he was meant to monitor.