תימנע משפחה אנטלויפט פון מאנרא קיין א"י
un. 2, 2004 23:22 | Updated Jun. 2, 2004 23:33
Jewish Agency rescues Yemenite family from Satmar
By JENNY HAZAN
jerusalem post
Six out of 21 members of the Nahari family arrived in Israel today after being rescued by the Jewish Agency from what was described as virtual siege in an ultraorthodox community in New York.
The family, which had been coerced into moving to Monsey, New York from Yemen six years ago by representatives of the ultraorthodox Satmar sect, had apparently been held hostage in the village of Kiryas Joel by the Satmar, who had brought them to the US under refugee status in an effort to discourage the family from moving to Israel.
The Nahari family is among at least 60 to 70 Yemenite families who were brought to North America by the Satmar, according to the head of the Jewish Agency Aliyah Delegation in North America, Michael Landsberg.
"The Satmar promised to take them to a 'golden land,' but when they got here they found themselves in more of a Yiddish-speaking shtetl," said Landsberg, who led the rescue operation.
"They came to the US without legal papers as refugees and because they didn't know what to do or how to speak the language or how to handle the whole situation, they just stayed put."
That is until last December, when the Jewish Agency made its first attempt to fly the family to Israel.
"Everything was prepared for them to leave, then they didn't show up at the airport," Landsberg said. He explained that members of the Satmar had taken two Nahari children on a "play date" at an undisclosed location at the time the original flight was ready to board.
"The kids were on a 'play date'," he says. "So, it was impossible to accuse the Satmar of kidnapping."
After the Jewish Agency's first attempt to rescue the family failed, they decided that an undercover operation was in order.
"The plan was to first help the mother and the younger children escape and then to bring the father and the older kids later on," said Lansberg. The Nahari children range in age from six to 21.
"We had to make up a story and that story was that Mrs. Nahari s father was sick and that she was going to visit him. At the same time, the young children left the house in the morning with their school uniforms on so that no one would suspect anything and we arranged for a van to pick them up on their way to school."
By noon, mother and children were reunited at the Jewish Agency office in New York, where they waited for the arrival of two carloads of suitcases and boxes and their visas from the consulate, before departing to the JFK airport to catch their flight.
"By the time we got to the airport, the kids were so frightened that it is hard to describe," says Landsberg, who accompanied the family every step of the way.
Having arrived this afternoon, the group is currently safe and sound in the Jewish Agency absorption center in Ashkelon.
Says Landsberg, "although they are safe now, they are still full of fear for the future of their family members in New York."
"It's really sad that such a thing happens between Jews," he explains that the Nahari family has been all but stripped of its Yemenite Jewish identity, having been forced to comply with the Satmar culture.
"The Jewish Agency promises to make its best effort to help all of these families find refuge in Israel."
The other family members are expected to be brought over soon.
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