Tunisian President, Kais Saied, has denied the existence of anti-Semitic sentiment in Tunisia, as evidenced by their protection of the Jewish minority after the Nazi Army invaded the country during the Second World War.
Tunisia was criticised after the attack in the vicinity of the El Ghriba Synagogue on the island of Djerba, which resulted in the deaths of three security officers and two visitors, in addition to the perpetrator of the attack, who belongs to the National Guard. At the time of the attack, the synagogue was hosting seasonal celebrations, attracting thousands of Jewish visitors from both Tunisia and abroad.
In his first response after the attack, President Kais Saied rejected accusations of anti-Semitism in Tunisia. During his visit to his family’s residence in the Ariana district near the capital, on Saturday, Saied, who was surrounded by Special Forces, said, “The tents of the Nazi Army were here. Jews were hiding in my grandfather’s house; they were inside the house to protect them from the Nazi Aarmy.”
In previous speeches, Saied said that his grandfather’s house was open to Jews, including the late feminist activist, Gisèle Halimi, following the Nazi forces’ arrival in Tunisia in 1942.
In his response to Western accusations, he added, “They now talk about Semitism. Our Palestinian brothers, the elderly, young people and women are killed every day, their homes are being demolished and no one talks about it.”
He continued, “Those who distort history, manipulate the facts, conspire against the state, and seek to undermine civil peace, then level accusations of anti-Semitism from outer circles; in what age do they live, and why have they lost their memory, not remembering anything?”
Tunisia’s campaign during the Second World War lasted until May 1943, ending with the defeat of the Axis forces. Tunisia was home to a significant Jewish minority, numbering around 100,000 until the 1950s, a substantial number considered its population at that time. However, most of them left the country with the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli wars. Today, their number in Tunisia is at most two thousand, and most of them reside on the island of Djerba.
READ: Tunisian security officer kills 5 people in an attack on a synagogue
Montather Rassoul