Police impose new hairstyle to Jews

One of the Jewish communities in Yemen was exposed to physical abuse by security forces in Sa’awan residential area, Sana’a, on last Sunday.

Heron Bin Salem, 22, a member of the Jewish community, was awaiting his cousin in front of al-Mustakbal School when an officer along with four security members approached him, “trying to get rid of his unfamiliar look,”  Yahya Yousif, the head of the Jewish community in Sana’a told Yemen Observer.

“The officer looked at my cousin and said, ‘I do not like your look (meaning the long curls) and Heron said ‘I am a Jew from Sa’adah.’ The officer, however, got even more angry and said ‘We do not want Jews here,” Yousif said.

The long curls running down the side of their faces characterize Yemeni Jews.

The police held down Ben Salem and tried to cut off his hair.

“The security grabbed Ben Salem’s arms while the officer, armed with a large stick, grabbed his head. Then some people and I intervened and managed to break it off,” Yousif added.

The officer was identified as Rashad al-Masri, who is working as the deputy director of al-Nasr police station.

Yousif expressed his thanks to the Minister of Interior, Mutahar Rashad al-Masri who, upon reporting the abuse, took the required measures.
The Jewish community in Sana’a city make up about 70 people of the whole group. They fled their homes in Sa’adah province after the first war between the government troops and al-Houthi rebels raged in 2004.

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