Country: Tunisia

Group: Jewish

Date Finalized: 08/03/2021

Team: Vianney Mancilla (lead) and Alicia Hernandez

There is substantial information supporting lethally targeted violence enacted against the Jewish in Tunisia. The data quality is rated a 3 for the amount of evidence found, its consistency, and credibility.

During World War II, The Jewish community of Tunisia was affected by France’s Vichy administration and discriminatory legislation (European, 2021;Minority, 2021). In November of 1942, the Nazi occupation invaded Tunisia and forced Jews to wear Star of David badges, imprisoned community leaders, and sent more than 5,000 Jews to forced labor camps, where 46 Tunisian Jews died (European, 2021). Over 160 Tunisian Jews were killed at the European death camps (European, 2021). The Jews’ situation improved after World War II, however anti-Jewish rioting and attacks still occurred (Minority, 2021). In 1967, on the first day of the Six Day War, anti-Jewish rioting erupted, where rioters attacked Jewish shops and caused damage to the Great Synagogue in Tunis (Tessler & Hawkins, 1980). In response, approximately 7,000 of the remaining Jewish population fled to France (European, 2021). Rioters continued to attack Jewish synagogues in 1979 in Djerba, in 1983 in Zaris, and in 1990 in Tunis (European, 2021;Tessler & Hawkins, 1980). In 1985, in Djerba, a Tunisian guard opened fire on worshippers in a synagogue, killing five people, four of them Jewish (Jewish, 2021). In 2002, al-Qaeda also sought to attack Tunisian Jews by leaving a truck full of explosives at the El Ghriba Synagogue and killing 21 people (European, 2021). Later, in 2012, a Salafi leader issued a call to kill Tunisian Jews (Minority, 2021). Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki stated he would do everything in his power to protect the remaining Jewish community, which was 105,000 at its peak and now 1,000 (European, 2021).

Sources

  1. European Jewish Congress. (2021). Tunisia. Retrieved from https://eurojewcong.org/communities/tunisia/ on August 02, 2021
  2. Jewish Virtual Library. (2021) Jews in Islamic Countries: Tunisia. Retrieved from https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-of-tunisia on August 02, 2021
  3. Minority Rights Group. (2021). Tunisia: Jews. Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/jews-10/ on August 02, 2021
  4. Tessler, M. and Hawkins, L. (1980). The Political Culture of Jews in Tunisia and Morocco. Retrieved from https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/stable/pdf/162399.pdf on August 02, 2021