[LINK] "Yemen's tiny Jewish minority shrinking fast"

[rfmcdonald]

The vestigial presence of Yemenite Jews in their homeland, decades after the mass exoduses to Israel and the United States, turns out to be threatened by violence in perennially unstable Yemen.

Three more Jewish families will leave Yemen for Israel this week, according to a Yemeni rabbi who laments the dwindling of an ancient community unnerved by threats and by the murder of a Jew last year.

A Shi'ite revolt in the strongly tribal northern mountains and the growth of Sunni Islamist fervour in Yemen have made Jews uncomfortable in a land where they have deep roots.

Only 200 to 300 Jews still live among Yemen's 23 million Muslims, mostly in the north.

Rabbi Yahya Yusuf Musa, 31, told Reuters the three families were from Raida, a town about 70 km (45 miles) north of the capital Sanaa, where a Jew was killed in December by a Muslim compatriot who has been sentenced to death for the crime.

Sixteen Yemeni Jews from Raidah moved to Israel in June, including relatives of the victim, Mashaa Yaeesh al-Nahari.

An official at Israel's immigration ministry declined to comment due to the sensitivity of the subject.

There's more at the Reuters site.