One of the victims of the Paris shootings was a Tunisian, Yoav Hattab. He was a student of business studies whose home is in Tunis. Other victims had Tunisian backgrounds - Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Georges Wolinski, columnist Elsa Cayat and another victim at the supermarket Francois-Michel Saada. Jacob Lellouche who runs a restaurant in the Tunis suburb of La Goulette and is president of a Jewish cultural organisation told AFP, "Tunisia paid a heavy price".
Now many on here, after the constant propaganda about how Jews are in constant danger in predominantly Muslim countries might be a little surprised to learn that, despite the supposed attractions of Israel, there is still a Jewish community in Tunisia of some 1,500. Even more surprising might be the remarks of Yoav's father Batou who is a rabbi and runs a Tunis's Jewish school. After admonishing France to better protect Jews there, he told the TV station:
"Living in Tunisia I can see that Tunisia has respect (for Jews). Even during the revolution (in 2011), there were no problems," he said.
Cohen also said that Tunisian authorities "do all in their power to protect all its citizens, especially our community," although they were targeted in a 2002 suicide bombing on the island of Djerba, southern Tunisia, that left 21 dead.
That bombing was particularly sad for me as I had visited the synagogue that was attacked and impressed by the way it was simply a part of the town. When I was there it was the middle of Ramadan and there was no suggestion of any tension. Those killed were predominantly foreign tourists as the island is a main holiday venue catering for Europeans in large purpose built hotels outside of the main town.
Tunisian has held two peaceful rounds of elections since the "Arab Spring" in 2011. The results put a secularist party, Nidaa Tounes, in power although there are concerns that its leader and the new President Beji Caid Essebsi may become authoritarian. Essebsi served under the government that ruled up to the Spring to be replaced by the Islamic party Ennahada. Yes, the three years after the first elections had an Islamist party in power until it voluntarily stood down in January 2014 and a technocratic administration took over to oversee the November elections. The political dynamics in the country are particularly complex and possibly quite familiar:
Though neither Ennahda nor Nidaa Tounes managed to communicate clear policy platforms to address Tunisia’s thorniest challenges – namely economic growth, security sector reform, and judicial reform – Nidaa benefited from disappointment in Ennahda’s post-revolutionary governance, reviving a Bourguibist model of enlightened technocratic management. That model feels familiar here in Tunisia, a country used to its leaders hailing from prominent coastal families – a decidedly different demographic than comprises the leadership of Ennahda and its main secular ally, CPR, many of whose leaders also come from Tunisia’s long-marginalised interior and south.
Significantly lower voter turnout than 2011, combined with victory for Nidaa, suggests multiple dynamics are at play: increased voter cynicism regarding the ability of political elites to solve important local problems, hope that Nidaa Tounes might represent the best alternative to three years of disappointing governance, and the beginnings of old regime nostalgia – a phenomenon common to countries undergoing early transition from authoritarian rule. rule. Especially anemic turnout amongst young people – many of whom say Tunisian politics is a battle between aged dinosaurs from an outdated era – indicates parties are still struggling to craft vibrant political visions that speak across the generational divide.
Whether Nidaa Tounes crafts an inclusive coalition or drifts toward authoritarian models of decades past remains to be seen. For now, observers should applaud Tunisia for successfully holding another election, and resist the simplistic tendency to frame Tunisia’s transition as a conflict between enlightened “democratic” secularists and backwards Islamists. The reality is far more complex.
Now the Wiki page on the
History of Tunisian Jews has a rather interesting gap between the end of WWII and 2011 apart from:
Before 1948, the Jewish population of Tunisia reached a peak of 105,000. Around 70,000 Jews were subjects of the bey of Tunis, 30,000 Jews were French citizens, and 5,000 were Italian citizens.From the 1950s, around 55,000 Jews would immigrate to Israel around 40,000 to France and the rest to other countries. In 2011, 700 Jews were living in Tunis and 1,000 on the island of Djerba.
Fortunately we have one of
our very own bloggers who has filled the gap.
The number of Jews in Tunisia [105,000 in 1948] is reported to have remained stable until 1955 with population growth from births being offset by emigration.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Organization for Rehabilitation through Training (ORT) began operations in Tunisia in 1950. The JDC is still active today. The ORT stopped operations in 1972 due to the decline in the number of Jews in Tunisia and an aging Jewish population there.
The Caisse Israelite de Relevement Economique (Loan Society) financed by the JDC and the Jewish Colonization Association began operations in Tunisia in June, 1953
By 1957, the number had fallen to 80,000 although a large number of those leaving would have had French citizenship and went to France rather than Israel. There were anti-Jewish demonstrations in 1967 after the Six Day War, some Jews attacked, shops looted and some destroyed. Most of the Jews who emigrated after that went to France. In 1982 the PLO headquarters was forced to move from Egypt and went to Tunis. In 1985 Israel bombed the building killing 50 and wounding 100. Anti-Israeli sentiment obviously increased but the picture appears to have been one of a gradual reduction in the Jewish population of Tunisia rather than a mass, rushed, forced exodus that is the "given". Certainly the young woman in a blog by a Jewish post-graduate student at Oxford University in England seems to accept it uncritically.
In his piece, "Tunisians Turn ‘Ashkenormative’ Judaism Upside Down", Jonathan Paul Katz describes the visit of the Tunisian ambassador to give a Shabbat dinner talk last November. He spoke about the need for co-existence, the need to listen to other narratives and the status of Jews in Tunisia. Surprising for some was the description of the vibrant Jewish community which although only now some 1500 has frequent visits from Tunisian Jews who live in Canada, France and Israel.
The ambassador painted a very inspiring picture. Yet one lady present was not quite in favor of this interpretation: She continuously interrupted him to claim that Jews were either struggling for survival after being forced to leave Tunisia, complete victims, or that the Israeli side of the story was being completely ignored. What’s more, she implied that Jews would only buy property in Tunisia if it were cheap — that there was nothing to see and the country was “dirty” and “barren.” As for one Tunisian Jewish community’s endorsement of the Islamist Ennahda party, she was completely dismissive.
Katz describes the received wisdom on Jews being forced from Arab countries and challenges the assumptions that are given.
Let’s start with the assumptions around Israel. In Hebrew schools, Zionist rhetoric, and popular Jewish media (especially Ashkenormative media), we are often told that the massive migration of Jews from the Arab world to Israel in the 1950’s was: a) completely voluntary, b) necessary — and that Jews were rescued by Israel, and c) generally wonderful. But the experience of Tunisian Jews could destabilize all three of these ideas.
First, many Tunisian Jews did not want to leave the country — and were pushed out by a combination of ex-Vichy French colonial pressure, Israeli state pressure, and post-independence economic conditions. Second, the idea of necessity is highly subjective — yes, there was violence, but was departure the only solution? Besides, that idea plays into a notion of the Israeli state as an entity of heroic Ashkenazim “saving” poor Mizrahim. The questions of white savior ideology (and, yes, Ashkenazim are white) are strong. Finally, what was the experience of the Tunisians on arrival in Israel? Many were shuttled to remote development towns with few job opportunities, and continue to face racism and discrimination in Israel today. A large sector of those who could migrate again did — from Israel to France or Canada.
This, what Katz calls Ashkenormative media extends to even the liberal Haaretz. During the Arab Spring in January 2011, they interviewed a Tunisian born sociologist but even that
generally positive piece is introduced with:
He does not see any real reason for fear in the wake of the popular uprising, since Tunisia is a western country, he says.
So Tunisia is OK because is isn't really an Arab or proper Muslim country. Suffice it to say that the Israeli government sought to exploit the uncertainties by announcing increased funding to assist Jews to leave Tunisia. This caused not a little
anger both in the government and the Tunisian Jewish community
That drew a furious response from the Tunisian foreign ministry, which condemned Israel's "interference" in the country's internal affairs by offering financial incentives to encourage Jews to emigrate.
It also prompted the leader of the Jewish community in Tunisia to criticize the Israeli government for its offer and say that "no Jew is going to leave the country."
The ministry expressed "great regret" over what it described as "a malicious call to Tunisian citizens to immigrate to Israel in an attempt to damage the image of Tunisia after the revolution and to create suspicion about its security, its economy and its stability.
And why would they wish to leave a place where they have a vibrant community with its own identity as both Tunisian and Jewish when they would face as "Mizrahi" discrimination in Israel? To give one example, there is a continued battle to get
integration in Israeli schools, in particular one in the Occupied Territories. That commentary is from last year but the very same school was involved in similar incidents in 2009 and
some of the comments and actions will have resonance with Americans.
A group of Ashkenazi schoolgirls who approached the institute's side gate on Wednesday were driven away by a number of ultra-Orthodox men, who noticed Haaretz's photographer.
"The court and media don't understand that this is another world," a mother who is keeping her daughter out of school said. "The Hasidic program was created because of a different religious outlook. Only pure children attend it."
"The Mizrahi students' families don't belong with the other families," another parent said. "They have a television at home while the [Ashkenazim] speak Yiddish. The Mizrahi girls have a bad influence on our girls. No court will change anything," he added.
Perhaps now would be a good time for the new Tunisian government to reach out to the oppressed Tunisian Jews in Israel to encourage them to return to help build a new democracy in which they would already have more rights than they currently "enjoy".