Israeli agency ends decades-long operation airlifting Yemeni Jews to Israel

• 19 refugees and a 500-year-old Torah scroll were the last to be flown to Israel from Yemen as anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence has increased following the seizure of the Yemeni capital by Houthi rebels in 2014.
• Through the covert mission, Israel’s Jewish Agency sought to provide refuge for Yemen’s small but millenia-old Jewish community, transporting tens of thousands to the country beginning in 1949.
• The immigration mission took place over decades, leaving only 50 Jews in Yemen, 40 of whom are under the embattled government’s protection.

Read more:
“17 Yemenite Jews secretly airlifted to Israel in end to ‘historic mission’” (The Times of Israel)
“Israel flies in 19 Yemeni Jews, ending immigration mission” (Reuters)
“19 Yemeni Jews Arrive in Israel, Ending Secret Rescue Operation” (The New York Times)

(Image Credit: Baz Ratner/Reuters)