According to reports by local Jews a well known beis
knesses in Tunis was almost completely destroyed in an
antisemitic attack when unidentified thugs broke into the
beis knesses, tore the sifrei Torah and threw
them to the floor, tore siddurim, destroyed the
furniture and hung Palestinians flags and photographs of
Arafat on the bimah.
The beis knesses, located near the coast in the
Marassa Quarter, is closed most of the year due to the lack
of attendance, but opens during the summer months for Jewish
vacationers.
The Tunisian Jewish community has been reporting tensions and
provocation in the press, aimed at Jews. As in Europe, report
local Jews, anti-Zionist and anti- Israel antagonism has
recently beentransformed into antisemitic instigation.
Tunisian newspapers publish lists of Jewish public officials
in France, such as Health Minister Bernard Kushnir, accusing
them of serving Israeli interests. Although the Jewish
community had expected President Ben Ali to provide security
for the botei knesses and to issue a statement of
condemnation against terrorist attacks, government
authorities in Tunisia have remained silent. Brosh says that
while Ali has always defended the Jewish community, now he is
failing to respond.
Government authorities are grudgingly admitting that the gas
truck that crashed near the La Griba beis knesses in
Djerbe was a terrorist attack. German investigators concluded
that the driver was a suicide bomber. Seventeen people were
killed in the explosion, including 11 German tourists, and
the ancient beis knesses, considered a valuable
cultural asset, was damaged.
Since the bombing, public opinion in Germany has turned
against the Arabs.
Freedbert Fluger, president of the European Committee in the
German parliament, demanded that sanctions be imposed on the
Palestinians and that European aid to Arafat be discontinued,
saying Arafat uses the annual 175 million-euro allocation to
finance terrorism. His position is diametrically opposed to
that of other German leaders who call for attacks on
Israel.
German television broadcasts show Israeli artillery shelling
of Hizbullah positions in Southern Lebanon as if the IDF is
bombing Palestinian refugee camps. Newspapers are filled with
reports describing "acts of carnage in Jenin." Jewish
reporter Rolf Jirdani says the press is maintaining a unified
anti-Israel front designed to relieve the Germans of their
guilt complex over Nazi crimes by presenting Israeli activity
as comparable atrocities.
Peretz Trebelsi of Djerbe, who organizes trips for Tunisian
Jews in France and Israel to the ancient beis knesses,
also maintains the explosion was accidental. Trebelsi
announced yesterday that the annual hilula in Griba,
normally attended by 1,500 Jews, will not be cancelled.
Organizations of Jewish Tunisians in Paris called on Jews not
to participate in the event and to refrain from vacationing
in Tunis due to the danger involved.
