http://www.thejc.com/news/topics/tunisia The taxonomy view with a depth of 0. en http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/104009/we%E2%80%99ve-been-tunisia-2500-years-it%E2%80%99s-our-country-still%E2%80%99 <p>The Israeli Foreign Ministry recently issued a travel warning for Israelis visiting Tunisia over Passover.<br /> In addition, the Israeli government will probably again tell citizens not to visit Tunisia for the annual El Ghriba pilgrimage to Djerba at the end of April. </p> <p>However, since the Tunisian revolution in 2011, only a few Jewish families have emigrated from Tunisia. Many may wonder: if the Jewish community is really in such grave danger, why have so many Jews decided to stay?</p> <p>There are differing views in the community on how the changes in the country will impact Jews, and the tales of two Djerbian brothers encapsulate two sides of the story.</p> <p>Raphael Cohen, a former resident of the Jewish neighbourhood of Hara Kabira, Djerba, was shaken by the changes in government in the summer of 2011, five months after Tunisia’s revolution. Back then, he said that his biggest concern was the civil war in neighbouring Libya. “Does Obama know that once Gaddafi falls, men with beards will be emboldened and made much stronger here? I don’t think the Jewish community has a future here once they become strong,” he said. </p> <p>Gaddafi’s regime fell in October and, by January, 2012 Raphael was on a plane to Israel to make aliyah. His emigration coincided with the week in which Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh went on a speaking tour of Tunisia, on the invitation of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party. Haniyeh was greeted at the airport by a crowd chanting “death to the Jews”. Raphael now lives in a Merkaz Klitah in Beer’sheva with his family.</p> <p>Raphael’s brother, Rabbi Daniel Cohen, however, came to a different conclusion. He lives in the Tunis suburb of La Goulette and is the rabbi of the Beit Mordechai Synagogue. He has said many times that he is Tunisian, holds no other nationality and would always stay in Tunisia, his “holy land”.</p> <p>“We lived for many years under a dictator and, now that we are trying democracy, why am I supposed to leave?” he asked. He insisted that the victory of the Ennahda party was not a threat. “Jews have lived in Tunisia for more than 2,500 years and we are still here, because Tunisia is not just a Muslim country, it is a Jewish country too.” </p> <p>There are synagogues and graves of venerated rabbis in nearly every town and city in Tunisia, totalling over 300 sites, but many are relatively abandoned because Jews no longer live in many outlying regions. Still, the tradition of making pilgrimages (or seudah) to holy sites remains. </p> <p>Unlike the governments of Egypt, Iraq and Syria, Tunisia has never stripped citizenship from a single Jew for immigrating to Israel, and it emerged this week that the drafters of country’s new constitution are considering allocating parliamentary seats to Jews.</p> <p>In January, a video circulated on Facebook of Daniel on Tunisian TV celebrating the barmitzvah of his son, Moshe, in Tunis. In Tunisia, large parties are usually open affairs with no invitations. </p> <p>Although only time will tell what will happen to the Jews of Tunisia, for now, the majority still think like Daniel.</p> World news Jewish life Tunisia 104009 story http://www.thejc.com/files/tunisia rabbi.JPG Rabbi Daniel Cohen, a proud Tunisian 104005 Building over the past in Beirut - a restored shul but a lost Jewish community 67375 Tunisian Jewish pilgrimage resumes with high security The Israeli Foreign Ministry recently issued a travel warning for Israelis visiting Tunisia over Passover. In addition, the Israeli government will probably again tell citizens not to visit Tunisia for the annual El Ghriba pilgrimage to Djerba at the end of April. However, since the Tunisian revolution in 2011, only a few Jewish families have emigrated from Tunisia. Many may wonder: if the Jewish community is really in such grave danger, why have so many Jews decided to stay? There are differing views in the community on how the changes in the country will impact Jews, and the tales of two Djerbian brothers encapsulate two sides of the story. Raphael Cohen, a former resident of the Jewish neighbourhood of Hara Kabira, Djerba, was shaken by the changes in government in the summer of 2011, five months after Tunisia’s revolution. Back then, he said that his biggest concern was the civil war in neighbouring Libya. “Does Obama know that once Gaddafi falls, men with beards will be emboldened and made much stronger here? I don’t think the Jewish community has a future here once they become strong,” he said. Gaddafi’s regime fell in October and, by January, 2012 Raphael was on a plane to Israel to make aliyah. His emigration coincided with the week in which Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh went on a speaking tour of Tunisia, on the invitation of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party. Haniyeh was greeted at the airport by a crowd chanting “death to the Jews”. Raphael now lives in a Merkaz Klitah in Beer’sheva with his family. Raphael’s brother, Rabbi Daniel Cohen, however, came to a different conclusion. He lives in the Tunis suburb of La Goulette and is the rabbi of the Beit Mordechai Synagogue. He has said many times that he is Tunisian, holds no other nationality and would always stay in Tunisia, his “holy land”. “We lived for many years under a dictator and, now that we are trying democracy, why am I supposed to leave?” he asked. He insisted that the victory of the Ennahda party was not a threat. “Jews have lived in Tunisia for more than 2,500 years and we are still here, because Tunisia is not just a Muslim country, it is a Jewish country too.” There are synagogues and graves of venerated rabbis in nearly every town and city in Tunisia, totalling over 300 sites, but many are relatively abandoned because Jews no longer live in many outlying regions. Still, the tradition of making pilgrimages (or seudah) to holy sites remains. Unlike the governments of Egypt, Iraq and Syria, Tunisia has never stripped citizenship from a single Jew for immigrating to Israel, and it emerged this week that the drafters of country’s new constitution are considering allocating parliamentary seats to Jews. In January, a video circulated on Facebook of Daniel on Tunisian TV celebrating the barmitzvah of his son, Moshe, in Tunis. In Tunisia, large parties are usually open affairs with no invitations. Although only time will tell what will happen to the Jews of Tunisia, for now, the majority still think like Daniel. Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:30:00 +0000 104009 at http://www.thejc.com http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/102476/islamist-spring-hails-fresh-wars <p>The Western media presented last week’s assassination of Chokri Belaid, Tunisia’s most prominent critic of radical Islam, as a pivotal moment in the Arab Spring. </p> <p>That Mr Belaid’s murder was reported as atypical, or a kind of wake-up call, reveals only how Middle East correspondents continue to misrepresent the grim reality of these uprisings — unable as they are to admit that, from the outset, they got it all so wrong. For while Mr Belaid’s cold-blooded killing was dramatic and tragic, it was, sadly, just one more example of how Islamofascism is spreading like wildfire throughout the Arab world. </p> <p>Most egregiously, Islamists groups that gained power through the ballot box are still being portrayed as distinct from violent Salafist organisations, when they are of course joined at the hip. </p> <p>In their combination of highly disciplined party structure and fake denial of responsibility for random violence, the “moderates” resemble Europe’s far-right political parties who, too, have embraced the democratic process. The latter also rely on a grassroots network of thugs whose brutal beatings of Jews and immigrants in the streets they officially distance themselves from. Acutely aware of how this is playing out on the Arab street are Tunisia’s Sufi and Jewish communities. More than 40 Sufi shrines, long venerated as places to worship local saints and seek blessings, have so far been desecrated. The same relentless trend is found in Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Libya, Iraq and Yemen. Meanwhile, some 68 gravestones were this month destroyed, and their graves looted, at a Jewish cemetery in the Tunisian coastal town of Sousse; and in Kef, western Tunisia, 10 Jewish graves were smashed to pieces, with skeletons left scattered around the cemetery.</p> <p>In Egypt — ruled by a president who believes Jews are descended from “apes and pigs” — there was more than a little irony in the announcement that, following Mr Belaid’s assassination, security would be beefed up around opposition leaders. As in Tunisia, the “moderate” Islamists have distanced themselves from their fellow radicals. But radical Islamist clerics this week started issuing fatwas, calling for the killing of liberal Egyptian opposition figures like there was no tomorrow — and only one was called in for questioning.</p> <p>In fact, since Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was elected six months ago, a striking pattern has emerged during the vicious attacks on opposition activists by riot police and Islamist militias made up of rank-and-file Brotherhood members. Several individuals associated with anti-Muslim Brotherhood pages on Facebook have, it is alleged, themselves been singled out for assassination amid the mayhem. These included a 16-year-old boy who founded a Facebook page called “Together Against the Muslim Brotherhood”, who was shot dead at close range.</p> <p>Egyptian women are suffering unprecedented sexual and verbal harassment; official Brotherhood spokesmen are demonising opposition figures as foreign agents and decadents; Coptic Christians are fleeing the country as never before. And, remarkably, Mohammed al-Zawahri — brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri — is warning that he and his fellow Egyptian jihadis are presently “practising extreme self-restraint”.</p> <p>His statement points to only two possible outcomes as Egypt and Tunisia prepare for forthcoming parliamentary elections. If, as is expected, the Islamists win, they will — with some justification — be able to round up their opponents on the grounds that they are undermining the state now ruled by freely and fairly elected representatives of the people. </p> <p>In the unlikely event that the liberals, who have been trounced in every election held so far, manage to unseat the Islamists, that “extreme self-restraint” al-Zawahri was menacingly touting will become a thing of the past. For in a last, desperate bid to establish Islamist theocracies, the Islamists will — in a replay of the 1979 Iranian revolution — openly massacre their rivals. </p> <p>Both Tunisia and Egypt are hurtling inexorably towards civil war.</p> World news Islam Tunisia 102476 story http://www.thejc.com/files/1511.JPG Kuwaiti preacher Nabil Al Aoudhi — a Salafist — receives a rapturous welcome from hundreds of devotees at the El Kabaria mosque in Tunis (Photo: Demotix) 89534 Tunisian Imam expelled from France 89098 Plot to kidnap Tunisian Jews foiled The Western media presented last week’s assassination of Chokri Belaid, Tunisia’s most prominent critic of radical Islam, as a pivotal moment in the Arab Spring. That Mr Belaid’s murder was reported as atypical, or a kind of wake-up call, reveals only how Middle East correspondents continue to misrepresent the grim reality of these uprisings — unable as they are to admit that, from the outset, they got it all so wrong. For while Mr Belaid’s cold-blooded killing was dramatic and tragic, it was, sadly, just one more example of how Islamofascism is spreading like wildfire throughout the Arab world. Most egregiously, Islamists groups that gained power through the ballot box are still being portrayed as distinct from violent Salafist organisations, when they are of course joined at the hip. In their combination of highly disciplined party structure and fake denial of responsibility for random violence, the “moderates” resemble Europe’s far-right political parties who, too, have embraced the democratic process. The latter also rely on a grassroots network of thugs whose brutal beatings of Jews and immigrants in the streets they officially distance themselves from. Acutely aware of how this is playing out on the Arab street are Tunisia’s Sufi and Jewish communities. More than 40 Sufi shrines, long venerated as places to worship local saints and seek blessings, have so far been desecrated. The same relentless trend is found in Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Libya, Iraq and Yemen. Meanwhile, some 68 gravestones were this month destroyed, and their graves looted, at a Jewish cemetery in the Tunisian coastal town of Sousse; and in Kef, western Tunisia, 10 Jewish graves were smashed to pieces, with skeletons left scattered around the cemetery. In Egypt — ruled by a president who believes Jews are descended from “apes and pigs” — there was more than a little irony in the announcement that, following Mr Belaid’s assassination, security would be beefed up around opposition leaders. As in Tunisia, the “moderate” Islamists have distanced themselves from their fellow radicals. But radical Islamist clerics this week started issuing fatwas, calling for the killing of liberal Egyptian opposition figures like there was no tomorrow — and only one was called in for questioning. In fact, since Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was elected six months ago, a striking pattern has emerged during the vicious attacks on opposition activists by riot police and Islamist militias made up of rank-and-file Brotherhood members. Several individuals associated with anti-Muslim Brotherhood pages on Facebook have, it is alleged, themselves been singled out for assassination amid the mayhem. These included a 16-year-old boy who founded a Facebook page called “Together Against the Muslim Brotherhood”, who was shot dead at close range. Egyptian women are suffering unprecedented sexual and verbal harassment; official Brotherhood spokesmen are demonising opposition figures as foreign agents and decadents; Coptic Christians are fleeing the country as never before. And, remarkably, Mohammed al-Zawahri — brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri — is warning that he and his fellow Egyptian jihadis are presently “practising extreme self-restraint”. His statement points to only two possible outcomes as Egypt and Tunisia prepare for forthcoming parliamentary elections. If, as is expected, the Islamists win, they will — with some justification — be able to round up their opponents on the grounds that they are undermining the state now ruled by freely and fairly elected representatives of the people. In the unlikely event that the liberals, who have been trounced in every election held so far, manage to unseat the Islamists, that “extreme self-restraint” al-Zawahri was menacingly touting will become a thing of the past. For in a last, desperate bid to establish Islamist theocracies, the Islamists will — in a replay of the 1979 Iranian revolution — openly massacre their rivals. Both Tunisia and Egypt are hurtling inexorably towards civil war. Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:25:21 +0000 John R Bradley 102476 at http://www.thejc.com http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/analysis/95551/austerity-and-food-prices-will-help-keep-extremists-top <p>Tunisian President Munsif Marzouqi was forced to abandon a public speech this month in Sidi Bouzid. He had been intending to celebrate the Arab Spring at the place where it began two years ago. </p> <p>Thousands of protesters, angry that their impoverished region remains blighted by high inflation, unemployment and poverty, instead gathered to call on him to resign. A pragmatic secularist, Mr Marzouqi pleaded that the Islamist-run government did not have a “magic wand” to fix the country’s problems. The protesters, of course, did not want to listen; but the president was stating an obvious truth.</p> <p>Its few remaining champions in the West still see the Arab Spring as having been a popular outcry for political freedom, Western-style pluralism and democratic representation. Remarkably low participation in elections held in Tunisia — and everywhere else — has proved that interpretation to be false. The motivation of the majority of those who poured on to the streets was the belief that sudden and radical change would mean affordable food and plentiful employment. </p> <p>Both Tunisia and Egypt, the only two Arab countries that could (charitably) be said to have experienced popular revolutions, are today in much worse economic shape than before the uprisings. Unemployment, inflation, crime and poverty are soaring; direct foreign investment is at near zero; the crucial tourism industries have been decimated; and the central banks are fast running out of foreign currency reserves. And things are about to get much worse. </p> <p>Prices for maize and wheat soared this year by 50 per cent in the wake of the worst drought in America in living memory. A humanitarian disaster looms this coming spring.</p> <p>At first glance it therefore seems like political suicide on the part of both countries’ Islamist regimes to prepare, as they are, massive cuts, in compliance with IMF conditions on proposed aid packages. However, there is method to their madness.</p> <p>The Islamists sought to take the reins of power not to address economic problems but to purge state institutions of secular influence and provide impunity for their more radical allies to impose cultural fascism. They are the equivalent of the more extreme right of the Republican Party in the US, who are fanatically pro-free market and against big government.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the conflict in Syria shows no sign of anything other than a cataclysmic conclusion.</p> <p>History teaches us that, in times of economic crisis, the masses turn not to voices of reason but to extremists. Anyone who believes the disorganised, unpopular secular and leftists groups will benefit politically from the economic downturn this coming year is living in cloud-cuckoo land.</p> Analysis Extremism Egypt Tunisia 95551 story 78615 Extremist threat is not just about the economy, stupid 60328 Netanyahu: Extremist attackers not representative Tunisian President Munsif Marzouqi was forced to abandon a public speech this month in Sidi Bouzid. He had been intending to celebrate the Arab Spring at the place where it began two years ago. Thousands of protesters, angry that their impoverished region remains blighted by high inflation, unemployment and poverty, instead gathered to call on him to resign. A pragmatic secularist, Mr Marzouqi pleaded that the Islamist-run government did not have a “magic wand” to fix the country’s problems. The protesters, of course, did not want to listen; but the president was stating an obvious truth. Its few remaining champions in the West still see the Arab Spring as having been a popular outcry for political freedom, Western-style pluralism and democratic representation. Remarkably low participation in elections held in Tunisia — and everywhere else — has proved that interpretation to be false. The motivation of the majority of those who poured on to the streets was the belief that sudden and radical change would mean affordable food and plentiful employment. Both Tunisia and Egypt, the only two Arab countries that could (charitably) be said to have experienced popular revolutions, are today in much worse economic shape than before the uprisings. Unemployment, inflation, crime and poverty are soaring; direct foreign investment is at near zero; the crucial tourism industries have been decimated; and the central banks are fast running out of foreign currency reserves. And things are about to get much worse. Prices for maize and wheat soared this year by 50 per cent in the wake of the worst drought in America in living memory. A humanitarian disaster looms this coming spring. At first glance it therefore seems like political suicide on the part of both countries’ Islamist regimes to prepare, as they are, massive cuts, in compliance with IMF conditions on proposed aid packages. However, there is method to their madness. The Islamists sought to take the reins of power not to address economic problems but to purge state institutions of secular influence and provide impunity for their more radical allies to impose cultural fascism. They are the equivalent of the more extreme right of the Republican Party in the US, who are fanatically pro-free market and against big government. Meanwhile, the conflict in Syria shows no sign of anything other than a cataclysmic conclusion. History teaches us that, in times of economic crisis, the masses turn not to voices of reason but to extremists. Anyone who believes the disorganised, unpopular secular and leftists groups will benefit politically from the economic downturn this coming year is living in cloud-cuckoo land. Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:30:00 +0000 John R Bradley 95551 at http://www.thejc.com http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/89534/tunisian-imam-expelled-france <p>The French government has expelled Tunisian Imam Mohammed Hammami after accusing him of antisemitism, encouraging violence against women and promoting a holy jihad. </p> <p>Mr Hammami, from the Omar Mosque in Paris, was arrested at this home and deported to Tunisia last Wednesday for “deliberate, repeated and unacceptable provocations” that threaten French society and security, according to the French Interior Ministry.</p> <p>French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said: “We decided to be uncompromising against all those who utter hate speech against the Republic and our values.”</p> <p>Mr Hammami, 77, has denied the allegations since his assets were frozen by the French government in May. </p> <p>French President François Hollande pledged to defend Jews against antisemitism during a diplomatic meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Thursday. </p> <p>The leaders visited the Ohr Hatorah school in Toulouse, where four people were killed by Islamic extremist Mohamed Merah this year, and President Hollande said: "French Jews must know that the republic will use all means available to protect them - their security is a national cause.” </p> <p>Mr Netanyahu welcomed the response, saying: "Antisemitism turns into a fire that quickly engulfs all in its path. It was no coincidence that the murderer of Toulouse killed not only Jews but also French soldiers, Christian and Muslim, with no distinction." </p> <p>Meanwhile, a Tunisian terrorist group that planned to kidnap a local Jew has been arrested and put on trial. </p> <p>The fundamentalist group, led by a senior Tunisian police officer and four Libyans, plotted to snatch a young Jewish man and hold him ransom. </p> <p>The Salafi jihadist police officer, who has not been named, used a loan to purchase firearms, vehicles and recruit people to help with the attack. </p> <p>Ironically, the officer had been heavily involved in a national security programme to protect Jews in south Tunisia. </p> <p>Arab media outlets reported that the would-be attackers were aiming to scare the remaining 1,500 remaining Jews in Tunisia into leaving the country.</p> <p>Khaled Tarrouche, the interior ministry spokesman, did not identify members of the group but confirmed that they planned to attack: “One or two Jews from well off families to obtain a ransom,” according to AFP. </p> <p>Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the death of 21 people during an attack on a Tunisian synagogue in 2001. </p> World news Benjamin Netanyahu Tunisia France Terrorism Antisemitism 89534 story http://www.thejc.com/files/Hollandee.JPG President Hollande promised to defend French Jews (Photo: AP) 88081 French police report reveals failures before Toulouse shootings 86741 French Twitter users posting anti-Jewish messages