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Yemen's Speaker Condemns Visit Of Israelis As "Huge Error"
DUBAI, April 7 (AFP) - Yemen's parliamentary speaker Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar on Friday accused his government of committing a "huge error" in allowing a group of Israelis to visit the country.
"In allowing Jews of Yemeni origin to visit Sanaa, the authorities have committed a huge error ... because these Jews harbor a hatred of Arabs and Muslims," Sheikh Abdullah told the Emirati newspaper Al-Khaleej.
The group of 12 Israelis left Sanaa on March 30 after a four-day visit that culminated in a meeting with Prime Minister Abdel Karim Iryani, a move that led U.S. President Bill Clinton to praise Sanaa for its relaxation on travel restrictions for Jews of Yemeni origin.
Sheikh Abdullah, however, had refused all attempts by the group to organize a meeting with him when they were in Sanaa.
The group, including a rabbi, a journalist and two researchers, traveled on temporary travel documents issued by Yemen's delegation to the United Nations, and not on Israeli passports.
Police sources said the Israelis arrived on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv via Addis Abeba.
Sheikh Abdullah, who is also head of the Islamic Al-Islah party, claimed "Jews of Yemeni origin left Yemen more than 50 years ago for Israel where they made war against Muslims and Palestinians."
"Jews of Yemeni origin are still terrorists and vindictive when it comes to the Palestinian people because they are part of a radical sect hostile to Arabs and Muslims. In this case, we cannot allow them to return to Yemen because they have become Israelis ... and they have no ties with this country," he said.
Some 300 Jews still live in Yemen, and emigration to Israel is banned under the Yemeni constitution, although it lays down the principle of freedom of travel.
Some 43,000 Jews emigrated to Israel between June 1949 and June 1950 in an airlift from the southern city of Aden that was dubbed "Flying Carpet."
Yemen's opposition parties on Wednesday condemned the visit and called for a parliamentary vote of no confidence in the government.
"This dangerous trend on the part of Yemeni authorities shows up their weakness," the opposition charged in a statement, saying the government should apologize to the Muslim world and face a no-confidence vote in parliament.
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