Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Tunisia

The ancient Tunisian Jewish community and its emigration, Djerba's Ghriba synagogue and the 2002 and 2023 attacks, the PLO headquarters in Tunis and the Israeli raids of 1985 and 1988, the 1996–2000 interest offices, René Trabelsi, and the 2023 bill to criminalise normalisation

Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Tunisia centre on one of the oldest Jewish communities in the diaspora, most of whose members emigrated in the 20th century. In the 1980s the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had its headquarters near Tunis, and "Israel" struck it twice: an air raid in 1985 and a commando raid in 1988 that killed Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad). The UN Security Council condemned both raids. Tunisia and "Israel" exchanged interest offices from 1996 until 2000. Tunisia has had no relations with "Israel" since then, and in 2023 its parliament debated a bill to make any contact with "Israel" a crime.

Jewish community and religious life

History

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) dates the first documented Jewish presence in Tunisia to the second century CE, in Roman Carthage. The community was gradually emancipated under French rule in the 19th century. Vichy laws were imposed from November 1940, and during the German occupation of November 1942 to May 1943 almost 5,000 Jews were held in 32 labour camps. In 1948 the WJC helped unify Tunisian Jewry in the Federation of Jewish Communities of Tunisia. After independence in 1956 the rabbinical courts were abolished (1957) and the Jewish community councils dissolved, and the old Jewish quarter of Tunis was demolished. The WJC says it played "a critical diplomatic role" in the 1950s and 1960s in enabling Tunisian Jews to emigrate to France, "Israel" and elsewhere. During anti-Jewish riots after the outbreak of the 1967 war, the Great Synagogue of Tunis was set on fire.

The community today

The WJC says about 1,000 Jews live in Tunisia, mainly in Tunis and on the island of Djerba. The salaries of the chief rabbi in Tunis and the rabbi of Djerba are paid by the state, and each community is headed by a government-appointed committee. The Communauté Juive de Tunisie (CJT), led by Joseph Roger Bismuth, is the WJC's affiliate. Bismuth was elected to the upper house of parliament, the Chamber of Advisors, in 2005. Community members told the US State Department there were about 1,500 Jewish citizens. The government provides security for synagogues and partly funds their upkeep, but the community reported harassment by police in the south.

How far is it Zionist? No source reviewed links the CJT to Zionist advocacy. Its parent body, the WJC, says it helped Tunisian Jews to emigrate, including to "Israel", in the 1950s and 1960s. In October 2023 President Kais Saied told Tunisians not to attack Jews, saying "the battle is against global Zionism".

Djerba and the Ghriba synagogue

The Ghriba synagogue on Djerba is the focus of an annual pilgrimage at Lag BaOmer that draws Jews from around the world. On 11 April 2002 a truck bomb exploded outside the synagogue. The National put the death toll at 21, and the BBC reported that 14 of the dead were German tourists. Tunisian officials first called it an accident, then agreed that the driver had detonated the truck deliberately. A man described by the London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat as an al-Qaeda leader told it that the bomber, Nizar Nouar, was an al-Qaeda member. On 9 May 2023, during the pilgrimage, a member of the National Guard, Wissam Khazri, opened fire near the synagogue. He killed two Jewish cousins and three security officers and wounded eight people. On 17 October 2023, after the explosion at Gaza's al-Ahli Arab Hospital, rioters set fire to a disused synagogue and shrine in central Tunisia.

Chabad

Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Tunisia

The Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States lists Rabbi Haim Bitan as Chief Rabbi of Tunisia and Rabbi Binyamin Hatab in Tunisia.

Zionist movement and advocacy

No Zionist organisation operating in Tunisia today was found. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics records more than 48,000 Tunisian-born immigrants to "Israel" between 1948 and 1971 (see below).

Israeli state and commercial ties

The 1985 air raid on the PLO headquarters

On 1 October 1985 Israeli F-15s bombed the PLO headquarters at Hammam-Plage, in the southern suburbs of Tunis, in what the Israel Defense Forces call Operation Wooden Leg. The IDF says it was retaliation for the killing of three Israelis on a yacht in Larnaca, Cyprus, for which the PLO claimed responsibility. Prime Minister Shimon Peres approved the raid, and the defence minister, Yitzhak Rabin, said the aim was to show that the PLO had nowhere to hide. On 4 October the UN Security Council, in Resolution 573, condemned "vigorously the act of armed aggression perpetrated by Israel against Tunisian territory" and noted the "heavy loss of human life". It said Tunisia had the right to reparations.

The 1988 killing of Abu Jihad

On 16 April 1988 Israeli commandos killed Khalil al-Wazir, known as Abu Jihad, a founder of the PLO with Yasser Arafat, at his home in Tunis. "Israel" did not officially acknowledge the killing until 2012, when the military censor allowed Yedioth Ahronoth to publish an interview with Nahum Lev, who commanded the seaborne raid. Al Jazeera noted that Ehud Barak was then deputy chief of staff and Moshe Ya'alon commanded the Sayeret Matkal unit. The Security Council condemned "the aggression perpetrated on 16 April 1988 against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Tunisia" in Resolution 611.

Interest offices, 1996–2000

After the Oslo Accords, "Israel" opened an interest office in Tunisia in April 1996, and Tunisia opened one in "Israel" six weeks later. Tunisia broke off ties after the renewal of conflict with the Palestinians in 2000. The WJC says some commercial relations and tourism continued.

Spyware

Citizen Lab's 2018 survey of NSO Group's Pegasus spyware recorded suspected infections in Tunisia linked to two operators, including ATLAS, which appeared to focus on Morocco.

Trade

Tunisia does not appear in the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics' table of trade by country.

Migration and aliyah

The WJC says more than 100,000 Jews have emigrated from Tunisia over the past century. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics records Tunisian-born immigrants to "Israel" as 13,293 in 1948–51, 23,569 in 1952–60, 11,566 in 1961–71, 2,148 in 1972–79, 1,942 in 1980–89, 1,364 in 1990–99 and 5,528 in 2000–2020, then 432 in 2021, 227 in 2022 and 97 in 2023.

Political interference

René Trabelsi

In November 2018 Prime Minister Youssef Chahed appointed René Trabelsi, a Jewish tour operator from Djerba, as tourism minister. He was the first Jewish minister in decades and only the third since independence. His father, Perez Trabelsi, is president of the Ghriba synagogue, and René Trabelsi co-organises the annual Lag BaOmer pilgrimage.

The bill to criminalise normalisation

A bill to criminalise normalisation with "Israel" was first presented to parliament in August 2023 and aimed to outlaw any Tunisian contact with "Israel". According to Middle East Eye, it proposed six to twelve years in prison for any "communication, contact, propaganda, conclusion of contracts or cooperation" (in translation) with people or bodies affiliated with "the Zionist entity". On 2 November 2023 the speaker, Brahim Bouderbala, halted the debate after President Saied told him the bill would harm Tunisia's security, and parliament did not resume work on it the next day. Middle East Eye said the president had in effect buried the bill. Earlier bills were rejected in 2012 and 2018.

No credible sourced link between Jeffrey Epstein and Tunisia was found, so this page has no Epstein section.

See also

• Chabad Lubavitch of Tunisia
• Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States
• Zionist movement
• Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Morocco
• Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Egypt

External links

• UN Security Council Resolution 573 (1985)