Nineteen years ago precisely, on Apr. 11, 2002, there was a bombing at a synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia. A truck fitted with explosives blew up by the entrance of the El Ghriba synagogue, killing 19 people. Since then, the local Jewish community has lived in relative peace, that is until a few months ago when the police and local residents began to harass them, the Jewish residents claim.
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"About a month and a half ago, the president of Tunisia [Kais Saied] accused Jews of terrible things, and then apologized and said that he is not against Jews in Tunisia," one Jewish resident, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from local authorities, said.
"Despite his apology, the Jews of Djerba have been suffering from antisemitism ever since. On Pesach, a 10-year-old boy, the grandson of [chief Tunisian] Rabbi Haim Bittan, was walking in the street when he was attacked by someone, for no logical reason.
"Last week, an 18-year-old Jewish girl was attacked by two men on motorcycles. They tried to strangle her, but when she screamed, the neighbors rushed to her help, and the motorcyclists fled.
"We are terrified. It is not simple to live this way. The police have changed their attitude, and they check us all the time, harass us, every time they enter our quarter they hounds us.
"One of the policemen, who saw my ID that states that I am Jewish, detained me for half an hour for no reason. They are really harassing us.
"Each time they enter our quarter, they ask us to stand on the sides. It reminds us of dark times, and we want this to stop. We are living in fear.
"Even though the police did catch the motorcyclists who attacked the girls and came to calm [us down,] ever since the president took office, he has been inciting against us, and we are suffering. There are about 1,200 Jews in Djerba now, and everyone is talking about the difficult days we are living through. It's been a few days since Holocaust Remembrance Day, and 2021 has no room for hatred."
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