‘Israeli-Houthi secret deal’ to airlift Yemenite Jews arouses furor in Yemen

The arrival of a final group of Yemenite Jewish immigrants in Israel Monday morning aroused widespread criticism from Yemenite citizens on social media networks, claiming that the move was a result of a secret understanding between Israel and pro-Iran Houthi militias.

The opponents to this “secret deal” between Israel and the Houthis launched a social media campaign defaming Houthis as traitors under the hashtag, “The Houthis are Israeli agents.

On Monday morning a group of 19 Yemenite Jews that lived in the Houthi-ruled cities of Sana’a and Raida landed in Israel after being airlifted from Yemen in a secret mission reportedly administered by the Jewish Agency, in collaboration with the US State Department.

Among the new immigrants was Rabbi Saliman Dahari, who brought with him a Torah scroll that is 500-600 years old.

The social media activists who participated in the anti-Houthi campaign based their main claim according to which there is a secret alliance between Israel and the Houthis on an image of Dahari carrying a rifle with the writing “death to Israel” on it. Since this is a well-known Houthi slogan, these anti-Houthi activists deduced that the Jewish Rabbi was a fighter in the Houthi militias.

Read More- The Jerusalem Post

Image courtesy of AFP