The official reason was to maintain security on the island. But an article in Rai al-Youm makes it clear that it was an antisemitic decision - and Fawzi bin Younis bin Hadid is quite proud of that:
At this time every year, the island of Djerba turns into a military barracks to secure the Jews coming from Israel, from all parts of the world, and from within the island itself, to hold Passover rituals [sic] in the Jewish synagogue located area, which does not calm down day or night during that period. The island’s residents and other visitors suffer at this time of year from difficulty in moving to and from it, and they face great and extreme suffering in going to work in the morning and evening due to the large number of security checkpoints. As for those who come from outside it, they stand in lines at its entrances and exits and are asked where they came from and where they are going...But we heard this year that these rituals were canceled. The cancellation came, according to what was said, at the request of some Djerba people from the Tunisian state, in order to preserve the feelings of the Tunisians and show solidarity with the people of Gaza, who suffered and are still suffering from the scourges of the Zionist army, bombing, destruction, killing, torture and abuse, in one of the most heinous humanitarian crimes in modern history committed by the Zionist machine and the Zionist occupation army on the proud land of Gaza.Because we are an Arab Muslim people, we do not accept that the Jews rejoice over our precious land while they kill our people in Palestine, and the Zionists must understand that things have limits, and that the Islamic and Arab peoples boil like a pot boiling over a quiet fire......The Jews are by nature prone to aggression, arrogance, bullying, and absurdity. They ignore all international and international norms and resolutions, practice the law of the jungle in their dealings with humans, and are not held accountable for their crimes, which exceed the crimes of the entire world.We were very happy with this decision this year because it gives the Tunisian citizen on the island of Djerba a large amount of freedom to move around and practice the teachings of Islamic law, and participate in establishing security and safety. In fact, the first and primary goal of the cancellation was to respect the feelings of more than 160,000 citizens who live on the island and defend their brothers in Gaza and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The subtext is that the Jews who live in Tunisia are not really full citizens of the country - only the Muslims are, and only the Muslims deserve full rights. Which is how the Jews were treated in Europe throughout the ages, too.
Bin Hadid has written for Al Mayadeen and Al Jazeera as well.
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