JERUSALEM (JTA) — The parents of a Hebrew teacher who was killed in an anti-Semitic attack in Yemen immigrated to Israel.
Yisrael (Yaish) and Terneja Nahari, the parents of Moshe Nahari, made aliyah on Monday. The couple, in their 70s, were reunited in Israel with their four children and 20 grandchildren, including the nine children of Moshe Nahari, the son who was fatally shot in 2008 by an Islamist extremist.
Five of Moshe Nahari’s children made aliyah immediately following the murder. His wife, Louza, and the remaining four children came to Israel last August..
Moshe Nahari, a ritual slaughterer and Hebrew teacher in the town of Raydah in northwestern Yemen, was killed in December 2008 by an Islamist extremist who reportedly had demanded that he convert to Islam. Nahari, 35, was buried in Yemen.
Nahari’s parents remained in Raydah to campaign for his murderer to be brought to justice. The murderer was caught and found guilty in a Yemen court but has not been sentenced.
The aftermath of the murder saw a wave of aliyah to Israel, with 113 Jews immigrating there since 2009, according to the Jewish Agency, which assisted in the move.
Some 130 Jews still live in Yemen, including 40 in the capital city of Sana’a in a compound secured by the government and the rest in Raydah. The community is under threat of anti-Semitic attack that intensified following the ouster of President Ali Abdallah Saleh, according to the Jewish Agency.
Two weeks ago a Jew in Raydah was attacked and severely beaten by radical Muslims in his own house, the Jewish Agency said. Last May, Aaron Zindani, a Jewish community leader, was stabbed to death in Sana’a.
