Tunisian Jews demand government inquiry into their ethnic cleansing

Representatives of the Jewish community in Tunisia are presenting a request to the Truth and Dignity Commission (Instance de Vérité et Dignité) to investigate institutional abuse of Jews in Tunisia from 1955 to 2013.

The filing demands an investigation into "abuses and violations and other illegal acts suffered by the Tunisian citizens, whose only fault is that they are affiliated with the Jewish religion, since independence."

The Commission was set up in 2013 to address these sorts of complaints from citizens.

The complaint lists various examples of abuse suffered by the community, such as losing their citizenship and losing their property.

There are about 1,500 Jews remaining in Tunisia. There were more than 100,000 Jews there in 1956 when Tunisia won independence from France.

Lyn Julius just wrote a biting Huffington Post article about Tunisian Jews in wake of the pilgrimage there a few weeks ago:

One of the modern-day pilgrims was a rabbi from England: Liberal Judaism’s senior rabbi, Rabbi Danny Rich.

As well as visiting Al-Ghriba — the oldest synagogue in Africa — Rabbi Rich met Tunisian government members.

“Jews have lived successfully in Tunisia for centuries and the authorities seem determined to ensure that the ancient Jewish communities in Djerba and Tunis are both safe and able to thrive,” Rabbi Rich told the Jewish Chronicle.

His words must have been music to the Tunisian government’s ears.

Yes, Jews had lived in Tunisia for centuries - indeed there were 105, 000 in 1948. But Tunisia had failed miserably to hang on to its Jewish community - just 1,000 still remain, most in the enclave known as Hara Kbira on Djerba. By anyone’s reckoning, Tunisia’s rapid cleansing of its Jews is a sign of catastrophic failure. Tunisian Jews have been departing in waves over the last 50 years.

The latest wave was in June 1967, following the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbours. About 100 Jewish-owned businesses in Tunis were attacked and looted. The Great Synagogue, on the Avenue de la Liberte, was ransacked and set on fire. Rioters called out to “throw the Jews into the sea” and to burn them. Some 13,000 Jews took the hint and fled - many with nothing but a suitcase.

Numbers continued to dwindle and families left Djerba in the wake of the Arab Spring, which broke out in Tunisia in 2011.

But well-meaning westerners such as Rabbi Rich perpetuate the delusion that all is, and always has been, well. Tunisia is desperate to boost its fragile economy and image as a tourist destination, its Number One industry - and Rabbi Rich is all too willing to play the game. The Al-Ghriba pilgrimage is the highlight of the tourist calendar, bringing much-needed tourist dollars to the island of Djerba and filling its hotels.

While in Tunisia Rabbi Rich attended a conference at which the Minister of Culture promised support for a museum of Tunisian Jewry.

Few can argue with that. Except that if numbers continue to decline, the Museum of Tunisian Jewry may end up as nothing more than a forlorn reminder of Hitler’s project to establish the Museum of an Extinct Race.

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Jewish pilgrimages in Tunisia and Morocco end without incident

Over this past week, there were two major pilgrimages to Jewish shrines in Arab nations.

The most famous one was to  Tunisia, where hundreds of Jews went on an annual visit to the ancient synagogue in Djerba.

It is the top story in The Arab Weekly, a beta site of what is apparently a new English-language newspaper:

More than 2,000 pil­grims gathered at Africa’s oldest syna­gogue on the south­ern Tunisian island of Djerba despite a warning by the Israeli government that the Jewish festival could be targeted by terror­ists.

In an event unique in the Arab world, pilgrims, especially Jews of Tunisian descent from around the world, take part every year in the Lag Ba’omar festival at Djerba’s Ghriba synagogue. Pilgrims pay re­spect at tombs of famous rabbis, make vows, light candles and en­gage in celebrations.

Braving searing heat and secu­rity concerns, pilgrims danced and chanted amid heavy security meas­ures aimed at warding off potential jihadist assaults.

Approximately 1,500 Jews live in Tunisia, down sharply from an esti­mated 100,000 before the country won independence from France in 1956.

“The way Tunisia treats its Jew­ish citizens and all its minorities serves as a strong positive model for the rest of the world,” said Knox Thames, US State Department spe­cial adviser for religious minorities. Thames participated in some parts of the pilgrimage ritual.

The Jewish community of Djerba is said to date back around 2,600 years ago. The Ghriba synagogue was built in 587BC.

The synagogue became the site of an annual pilgrimage of Jews from Tunisia and abroad. Known as the Hiloula, which translates as “cel­ebration”, the event takes place on the holiday of Lag Ba’omer in com­memoration of the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, a legal scholar re­puted to have performed miracles.

The event isn't quite unique, because there was another Hiloula festival in Morocco as well for Lag B'Omer. From Morocco World News:

Hundreds of Jewish pilgrims from around the world gathered on Thursday in the city of Ouazzane (north) to celebrate the Hilloula.

On this occasion, a ceremony was organized by the Council of Jewish Communities in Morocco in the mausoleum of rabbi Amrane Ben Diwane and was attended by pilgrims from Morocco and abroad.

The ceremony was held in the presence of several Moroccan officials as well as by civilian and military figures.

Aloun Sami, a member of the Council of Jewish Communities in Morocco, told MAP that the celebration of this annual religious ceremony showcases the attachment of Moroccan Jews to their homeland, where they enjoy full respect.

There is an element of Tunisia and Morocco bending over backwards to show their support for Jews to the West, but that doesn't mean that their efforts are unappreciated. Indeed, those two countries are anomalous in the Arab world as to how they protect their tiny remaining Jewish communities.

A Moroccan news site had a 10-minute feature on these pilgrimages a couple of years ago, where it gathered over 350,000 views with much debate in the comments between those who support Jews and the (much noisier) blatant antisemites.

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Tunisia spurns Arab League and allows Israeli Jews to visit pilgrimage site

From JTA:

Tunisia’s tourism minister has been summoned to appear before the country’s parliament to explain her decision to allow Israelis to enter the country on their passports for a religious festival.

Tunisia does not have diplomatic ties with Israel; the lawmakers say that allowing the religious pilgrims to use their Israeli passports is tantamount to recognizing Israel.

It is the first time that Israelis traveling to Tunisia for the traditional festive procession on Lag B’Omer near the Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba will be allowed to enter the country on their passports, rather than use a special visa issued by the Tunisian embassy, the Associated Press reported .

Eighty-five lawmakers in the 217-member parliament signed a petition requiring Tourism Minister Amel Karboul to appear and defend her actions.

Tunisia’s interim Prime Minister, Mehdi Jomaa, on Tuesday defended the decision, which is seen as a way to boost tourism to the country.

“We must dispense with these political arguments and focus on the essential,” Jomaa said, according to AP. “All the previous government authorized Jews from Israel to come to Tunisia for the annual pilgrimage; we just decided to do it in total transparence.”

The details from Arabic website El Badil are interesting:

"The success of the tourist season is essential Because tourism is an activity that generates revenue quickly," [Jomaa] said of the Constituent Assembly a few days ago...

Tunisia is facing a serious economic crisis since 2011, and Israeli tourism - especially the pilgrimage to the Jewish Temple in Djerba - is essential for the development of this [tourist] sector, which is facing difficulties.

Some of the MPs objected to this reminding all that Tunisia is still officially "in a state of war " with Israel.

The Web site of the Secretary General of the Democratic Alliance, Mohammed Hamdi, said, "The Pilgrimage to the Temple of Djerba is not a problem in itself, but there is a political problem, Tunisia as a member of the Arab League must respect its obligations."

He added, "We must not forget that our country has ratified the decisions of the Arab League, and, therefore, Tunisia is still in a state of war with Israel, and should not turn this pilgrimage to a pretext for the normalization of relations with the Zionist entity."

The Prime Minister, in response to these accusations, said, "Let us be frank. Normalization, not normalization, set aside these big issues," calling on lawmakers to leave the "history" aside, stressing that these are procedures followed for years by all governments.

According to Elaph, only 61 Israeli tourists are expected to go to Tunisia, so the direct economic benefit to Tunisia cannot be that great. However, if Tunisia can point to them as proof that it is a safe place even for  tourists from enemy countries to visit, it can be a big win.

This also shows the importance of the economy in bringing peace (or at least detente.) Here we have Tunisia's acting prime minister essentially thumbing his nose at the entire Arab world saying that their economy is more important than any number of anti-Israel slogans. No doubt this is why there is a small but growing underground trade between Israel and many Arab states.

But, as he stressed, he didn't want to make a big deal out of this because the haters are very, very loud.

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