Yemeni diaspora

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Yemeni diaspora
المغتربين اليمنيين
Map of the Yemeni Diaspora in the World.svg
Total population
~7,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg  Saudi Arabia 1,803,469 (2022 census) [1]
Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 700,000
Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 400,000 (Ancestry)
Flag of India.svg  India 300,000 (Ancestry)
Flag of the United States.svg  United States 200,000
Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg  United Arab Emirates 100,000
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 80,000
Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar 60,000
Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 40,000
Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 36,000
Flag of Jordan.svg  Jordan 32,000
Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia 20,000
Flag of Eritrea.svg  Eritrea 18,000
Flag of Somalia.svg  Somalia 12,000
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 8,115
Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 65,000
Flag of Djibouti.svg  Djibouti 5,000
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 3,777
Flag of Oman.svg  Oman 2,500
Languages
Yemeni Arabic, Yemenite Hebrew
Religion
Predominantly Islam Significant minorities of Judaism.
Related ethnic groups
other Arabs, Semites and North-Afroasiates like the Hadharem, Mehris, Saudis
Yemeni Jewish man, year 1914 YemeniJew1914.jpg
Yemeni Jewish man, year 1914

Yemeni diaspora refers to Yemeni migrants and their descendants who, whether by choice or coercion, emigrated from Yemen and now reside in other countries.

Contents

There are 7 million Yemenis living outside Yemen, including 2 million in Saudi Arabia. [2] [3] In the United Kingdom there are between 70,000 and 80,000 Yemenis. An estimated 10,000 Yemenis in Birmingham, making about 1% of the city's population. Over 200,000 Yemenis reside in the United States, and around 3,000 live in Italy. Other Yemenis also reside in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, [4] Qatar, Bahrain and Turkey, as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and the former USSR.

Yemeni merchants and sailors often from the Hadhramaut and Aden regions, due to their historical maritime trading networks, were often influential in spreading Islam to regions in the Indian Ocean, especially the Swahili Coast, Madagascar, Southern India, Sri Lanka, East Timor, Indonesia, and Malaysia. A smaller number of modern-day Indonesians are of Yemeni descent, their original ancestors having left Yemen for the Southeast Asia over four centuries ago; Yemenis also contribute part of the small Muslim community in East Timor. [5] Similarly, many South Indian and Malagasy Muslims trace their ancestry back to Yemeni migrants, contributing to the Yemeni Indian population of roughly 300,000, as well as a population of roughly 60,000 Yemenis in Madagascar.

Due to the conflict in Yemen, many have migrated to the northern coasts of Djibouti, Somalia and Ethiopia. In 2017, Djibouti was home to over 40,000 Yemeni refugees. [6]

Yemenite Jews in Israel

Almost 435,000 Yemenite Jews live in Israel. Yemenite Jews have a unique religious tradition that marks them out as separate from Ashkenazi, Sephardi and other Jewish groups. Yemenite Jews are generally described as belonging to "Mizrahi Jews", though they differ from the general trend of Mizrahi groups in Israel, which have undergone a process of total or partial assimilation to Sephardic culture and Sephardic liturgy.

Avigdor Kahalani originating from Yemen was a former Israeli soldier and politician and Israeli Minister of Internal Security and member of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. Ofra Haza was a famous Israeli singer most known for "Im Nin'alu" and for representing Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983 with "Hi". Dana International of mixed Yemeni and Romanian origin won Eurovision Song Contest 1998 representing Israel with "Diva". Both Haza and Dana International have also sung in Arabic and in Yemeni dialects. Bo'az Ma'uda also of Yemeni descent represented Israel in Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with "The Fire in Your Eyes".

Very active names of Yemeni (or partial Yemeni) origin particularly in Israeli Mizrahi music include Zohar Argov, Daklon, Eyal Golan, Zion Golan, Yishai Levi, Avihu Medina, Haim Moshe, Shimi Tavori, Margalit Tzan'ani amongst others.

Notable Yemenis of the diaspora

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yemenite Jews</span> Jewish ethnic group

Yemenite Jews, also known as Yemeni Jews or Teimanim, are Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of the country's Jewish population immigrated to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet. After several waves of persecution, the vast majority of Yemenite Jews now live in Israel, while smaller communities live in the United States and elsewhere. As of 2022, Levi Marhabi is the last Jew in Yemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maghrebi Jews</span> Ethnic group

Maghrebi Jews or North African Jews are ethnic Jews who had traditionally lived in the Maghreb region of North Africa under Arab rule during the Middle Ages. Established Jewish communities had existed in North Africa long before the arrival of Sephardi Jews, expelled from Portugal and Spain. The term Musta'arabi was also used by medieval Jewish authors to refer to Jews who had traditionally lived in the Maghreb. Due to proximity, the term 'Maghrebi Jews' sometimes refers to Egyptian Jews as well, even though there are important cultural differences between the history of Egyptian and Maghrebi Jews. These Jews originating from North Africa constitute the second largest Jewish diaspora group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mizrahi Jews</span> Jews of the Middle East and North Africa

Mizrahi Jews, also known as Mizrahim (מִזְרָחִים) or Mizrachi (מִזְרָחִי) and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or Edot HaMizrach, are a grouping of Jewish communities that lived in the Muslim world.

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Arab Jews is a term for Jews living in or originating from the Arab world. The term is politically contested, often by Zionists or by Jews with roots in the Arab world who prefer to be identified as Mizrahi Jews. Many left or were expelled from Arab countries in the decades following the founding of Israel in 1948, and took up residence in Israel, Western Europe, the United States and Latin America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shalom Sharabi</span> Orthodox rabbi and kabbalist

Sar Shalom Sharabi, also known as the Rashash, the Shemesh or Ribbi Shalom Mizraḥi deyedi`a Sharabi (1720–1777), was a Yemenite Rabbi, Halachist, Chazzan and Kabbalist. In later life, he became the Rosh Yeshiva of Bet El Yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem. His daughter married Rabbi Hayyim Abraham Gagin of Jerusalem, making him the great-great-grandfather of Shem Tob Gaguine, the "Keter Shem Tob." His son was Yitzhak Mizrahi Sharabi and his grandson was Chief Rabbi Chaim Abraham Gagin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mizrahi music</span> Jewish genre of music

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen)</span> 1949–1950 transfer of Yemeni Jews to Israel

Operation Magic Carpet is a widely known nickname for Operation On Wings of Eagles, an operation between June 1949 and September 1950 that brought 49,000 Yemenite Jews to the new state of Israel. During its course, the overwhelming majority of Yemenite Jews – some 47,000 from Yemen, 1,500 from Aden, as well as 500 from Djibouti and Eritrea and some 2,000 Jews from Saudi Arabia – were airlifted to Israel. British and American transport planes made some 380 flights from Aden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shalom Shabazi</span> 17th C. Jewish poet in Yemen

Shalom Shabazi was the son of Yosef ben Avigad, of the family of Mashtā, also commonly known as Abba Sholem Shabazi or Saalem al-Shabazi. He was a Jewish rabbi and poet who lived in 17th century Yemen, often referred to as the arch-poet of Yemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Oman</span>

There was a Jewish presence in Oman for many centuries; however, the Jewish community of the country is no longer in existence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Habbani Jews</span> Jewish community from the Habban region of eastern Yemen

The Habbani Jews are a culturally distinct Jewish population group from the Habban region in eastern Yemen, a subset of the larger ethnic group of Yemenite Jews. The city of Habban had a Jewish community of 450 in 1947, which was considered to possibly be the remains of a larger community which lived independently in the region before its decline in the 6th century. The Jewish community of Habban disappeared from the map of the Hadramaut, in southeast Yemen, with the emigration of all of its members to Israel in the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Saudi Arabia</span>

Jewish history in the territory of modern Saudi Arabia begins in classical antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Qatar</span>

The History of Jews in Qatar is relatively limited, as unlike some of the neighboring countries in the Gulf of Persia, there is no documented settlement of Jews in the area now known as Qatar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in the Arabian Peninsula</span>

The history of the Jews in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to Biblical times. The Arabian Peninsula is defined as including the present-day countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen politically and parts of Iraq and Jordan geographically.

Yemenis in the United Kingdom or Yemeni Britons include citizens and non-citizen immigrants in the United Kingdom of Yemeni ancestry, as well as their descendants. Yemenis have been present in the UK since at least the 1860s, with the first Yemenis arriving as sailors and dock workers in the port cities of Northern England and Wales, and despite a smaller population than other British Muslim groups, are likely the longest-established Muslim group in the United Kingdom, with many of these cities retaining a Yemeni population going back several generations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yemenis</span> Nationals of Yemen

Yemenis or Yemenites are the nationals of Yemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yemenite Jews in Israel</span> Ethnic group

Yemenite Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Yemenite Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel. They number around 400,000 in the wider definition. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen and Aden's Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Djibouti</span>

In the history of the Jews in Djibouti, the Jews of Djibouti are classified as part of the wider Yemenite Jewish community similar to those in Eritrea and Aden. Originally settling in Obock, and finally Djibouti City, in the wake of the British succession of the Gulf of Tadjoura to the French in 1884. The vast majority of the community made aliyah to Israel in 1949.

The history of Jews in Somalia refers to the historical presence of Jewish communities in the Horn of Africa country of Somalia.

References

  1. "Saudi Arabia 2022 Census" (PDF). General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-04-28. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  2. "Yemenis in Saudi Arabia: Less Money to Send Home, More Pressure to Leave". Sana'a Center For Strategic Studies. 2020-09-03. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  3. "Saudi Arabia: Yemeni Workers at Risk of Mass Forced Returns". Human Rights Watch. 2021-08-31. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  4. Salameh, Dalal; Wakim, Rebecca (translator) (19 September 2021). "Taking Refuge in Amman: "I Left My Roots in Yemen"". 7iber | حبر. Retrieved 2022-01-10.{{cite web}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
  5. Yemenis in the UK
  6. Adow, Mohammad (17 November 2017). "Yemenis find refuge in Africa's Djibouti". Al Jazeera . Retrieved 28 October 2019.

See also