Yemenite Jews

A Jewish community originating from Yemen, whose members were significant figures in early Zionist immigration to Palestine and who were frequently stereotyped by Zionist-era writers and settlers as primitive, submissive, cheap labor, and as living relics of the biblical era whose pronunciation was thought to legitimate revived Hebrew.

Claims that use this term

• Yemenite Jews were recruited to replace Arab workers at Arab wage levels.
• Yemenite Jews were cast as living relics of the biblical era
• Zionists cast Yemenite Jews as living biblical relics whose pronunciation legitimated revived Hebrew.
• Zionist-era writers depicted Yemenite Jews as collective types embodying outward misery and inner purity
• Zionist settlers stereotyped Yemenite Jews as primitive, submissive cheap labor
• Zionist ideology simultaneously idealized and subordinated Yemenite Jews as authentic yet primitive.