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The Jews of Tunisia
By Mitchell Bard
1948 Jewish population: 105,000
2003: 1,5001
Tunisia was the only Arab country to come under direct
German occupation during World
War II.. According to Robert Satloff, “From November 1942
to May 1943, the Germans and their local collaborators implemented a
forced-labor regime, confiscations of property, hostage-taking, mass
extortion, deportations, and executions. They required thousands of
Jews in the countryside to wear the Star of David, and they created
special Judenrat-like committees of Jewish leaders to implement Nazi
policies under threat of imprisonment or death.”1a
After Tunisia
gained independence in 1956, a series of anti-Jewish
government decrees were promulgated. In 1958,
Tunisia's Jewish Community Council was abolished
by the government and ancient synagogues,
cemeteries and Jewish quarters were destroyed
for "urban renewal."2
The increasingly unstable situation caused more than 40,000 Tunisian
Jews to immigrate to Israel. By 1967, the country's Jewish population
had shrunk to 20,000.
During the Six-Day
War, Jews were attacked by rioting Arab mobs, and synagogues and
shops were burned. The government denounced the violence, and President
Habib Bourguiba apologized to the Chief Rabbi. The government appealed
to the Jewish population to stay, but did not bar them from leaving.
Subsequently, 7,000 Jews immigrated to France.
In 1982, there were attacks on Jews in the towns of
Zarzis and Ben Guardane. According to the State Department, the Tunisian
government "acted decisively to provide protection to the Jewish
community."3
In 1985, a Tunisian guard opened fire on worshipers
in a synagogue in Djerba, killing five people, four of them Jewish.
Since then, the government has sought to prevent further tragedy by
giving Tunisian Jews heavy protection when necessary. Following Israel's
October 1, 1985, bombing of the PLO
headquarters near Tunis, "the government took extraordinary measures
to protect the Jewish community."4
After the Temple Mount
tragedy in October 1990, "the government placed heavy security
around the main synagogue in Tunis."5
Djerba has one Jewish kindergarten. There are also
six Jewish primary schools (three located in Tunis, two in Djerba and
one in the coastal city of Zarzis) and four secondary schools (two in
Tunis and two in Djerba). There are also yeshivot in Tunis and Djerba.
The community has two homes for the aged. The country has several kosher
restaurants and five officiating rabbis: the chief rabbi in Tunis, a
rabbi in Djerba, and four others in Tunis. The majority of the Jewish
community observes the laws of kashrut.
"Many tourists come to visit Djerba's El Ghirba
Synagogue in the village of Hara Sghira. Although the present structure
was built in 1929, it is believed there has been a continuously used
synagogue on the site for the past 1,900 years. Tunisian Jews have many
unique and colorful rituals and celebrations, including the annual pilgrimage
to Djerba which takes place during Lag BaOmer. The Bardo Museum in Tunis
contains an exhibit dealing exclusively with Jewish ritual objects."6
Today, the 1,300 Jews comprise the country's largest
indigenous religious minority. "The Government assures freedom
of worship for the Jewish community and pays the salary of the Grand
Rabbi" of the community.7
In October 1999, the Jewish
community elected a new Board of Directors
for the first time since Tunisia's independence
in 1956. They also gave the Board a new name:
"The Jewish Committee of Tunisia."8
On April 11, 2002, a natural
gas truck exploded at the outer wall of the
Ghriba synagogue
on the resort island of Djerba. Tunisian officials
at first said the truck accidentally struck
the wall of the synagogue, but a group linked
to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
network claimed responsibility for carrying
out what was actually a terrorist attack on
the oldest synagogue in Africa. The explosion
killed 17 people, including 11 German tourists.9
Notes
1. David Singer and Lawrence
Grossman, Eds. American
Jewish Year Book 2003. NY: American Jewish Committee, 2003.
1a. Robert Satloff, “In
Search of “Righteous Arabs,” Commentary,
(July 04, 2004).
2. Maurice Roumani, The Case of the Jews
from Arab Countries: A Neglected Issue, (Tel Aviv: World Organization
of Jews from Arab Countries, 1977), pp. 33; Norman Stillman, The
Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times, (NY: Jewish Publication
Society, 1991), p. 127.
3. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
for 1982, (DC: Department of State, 1983), pp. 1290-91.
4. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
for 1985, (DC: Department of State, 1986), p. 1321.
5. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
for 1990, (DC: Department of State, 191), pp. 1664-65.
6. Jewish
Communities of the World.
7. U.S.
State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997.
8. U.S.
Department of State, 2000
Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, Released by the
Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Washington, DC, September
5, 2000.
9. Washington
Post, (April 17 & 23, 2002).
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