Only 100 Jews remain in Yemen, and one of those was knifed to death in May by an Al-Qaeda murderer.  A month later he was buried in Israel (“Relatives of Slain Yemeni Jew,” The Times of Israel, July 1, 2012). Fifty-three-year-old Aaron Zandani was the third Jew murdered in Yemen in a decade. His son-in-law Aaron who lives in Israel said, “They still throw stones at Jews and shout insults at them.” Jews settled in Yemen after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian armies in the 6th century B.C., but 49,000 of them resettled in Israel in the two years following the reestablishment of the modern state in 1948 in an operation called “Operation Magic Carpet” or “Operation on Wings of Eagles.” It was a secret operation conducted by the fledgling nation of Israel, and when it was finished only a few hundred Jews remained in Yemen. Operation Wings as Eagles was “motivated by a messianic frenzy,” and it was a definite fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Ezekiel 37 describes both stages of the return: first in spiritual death, then in resurrection life. Israel is back in the land and her presence there has been a continual miracle, but Israel won’t live spiritually until she repents and receives her rejected Messiah and the Spirit of God breathes on her in regenerating power. “And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: BUT THERE WAS NO BREATH IN THEM. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army” (Ezek. 37:8-10). 

(Friday Church News Notes, July 13, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)