Footage circulating on social media appeared to show a suspicious object crashing into the boat, followed by shouts from the deck. According to the organization, damage was caused on the main deck and the storage area below it due to a fire.

Video: The incident on board the flotilla vessel / Social media

The "Sumud" flotilla, meaning resistance, is an international initiative created to transfer humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip using civilian vessels, supported by delegations from 44 countries, despite Israel saying it would gladly hand over supplies after properly vetting them if activists dock in Israeli ports. Israel has repeatedly blocked similar flotillas because such attempts are designed to serve as propaganda supporting Hamas, and also because it wants to ensure there are no arms on board.

Environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who is taking part in the flotilla and was previously deported from Israel for joining another one, wrote that "I am currently in a Tunisian port, after our boat carrying humanitarian aid was bombed. We were not on board the boat when it was bombed. It was bombed in Tunisian territory."

Francesca Albanese, a UN envoy, told Al-Arabiya that "The strike against the Gaza flotilla ship is grave and we are awaiting an investigation."

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Javelin anti-tank missiles, launchers, spare parts, and more: a small Middle Eastern country, led by a dictator who oppresses his people, will pay just over $100 million for American weapons, courtesy of Washington's foreign service.

As required by law, the US State Department sent a notification to Congress last week detailing the recently approved weapons deal with Tunisia, allowing Congress members to review it. The notice claimed the sale would improve Tunisia's defense capabilities and advance US interests in the region. The deal would not upset the Middle East's balance of power, the document stated, nor would it diminish America's wartime emergency reserves. It would add money to American coffers and create more jobs for Americans. Everyone, apparently, wins.

Tunisia – designated by the US a decade ago as a "major non-NATO ally" – is ruled through a system of oppression, silencing, and imprisonment, but this doesn't seem to trouble State Department officials as an obstacle to a possible agreement. How is it that officials who scrutinize every Israeli action in Gaza with seven pairs of eyes are not bothered by such a situation?

Tunisia's president is Kais Saied, 66, a constitutional law expert. He has ruled the country since 2019. Initially, things proceeded smoothly. The COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions sparked protests in 2021 over the government's poor performance, which prompted Saied to fire the prime minister, temporarily dissolve parliament – and take almost every possible authority for himself. Since then, the president has restricted freedom of expression, eliminated judicial oversight of himself and his appointed judges, and imprisoned his opponents and electoral rivals. He now rules the country unopposed.

Tunisia's last presidential election was held two months ago. Saied didn't even bother to present a platform but won easily with 90% of the votes, partly because he had imprisoned all his rivals. The leading candidate against him is currently serving three separate prison sentences, including one for 12 years. Eight other potential candidates were imprisoned or placed under house arrest. Others were disqualified from running. In the end, only two candidates were allowed to participate in the actual election.

Less than 30% of Tunisia's eligible voters went to the polls. This minority is much larger than the voter turnout in parliamentary elections less than two years ago, which didn't even reach 10%. This grim reality reflects a bitter change that has occurred in the country within just a decade, a descent into dark oppression after great hope.

Tunisia was the birthplace of the Arab Spring protests in the Middle East. Young vendor Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in protest of authorities' harassment and his dire economic situation sparked thousands to take to the streets. The massive demonstrations ended with the ouster of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had ruled for about 24 years. He fled to Saudi Arabia, opening the way for a period of flourishing, prosperity, and democracy in Tunisia.

In fact, Tunisia was perhaps the only country to emerge from the Arab Spring mass protests on what at least then appeared to be a path toward establishing genuine democracy. Egypt, Syria, Libya, and Yemen experienced revolutions, but their subsequent paths were very different.

But the reversal of trends in Tunisia over the past three years is even stranger, because at least officially – if one ignores opposition protests and low voter turnout – it was approved by referendum. Many residents believed the president's steps to restrict individual rights and political freedoms were necessary, given the country's difficult economic situation and political mood.

Despite concerned statements from the US and European Union, despite the persecution of candidates and the huge election gap – the White House hasn't really condemned Tunisia's government. The Biden administration's treatment of Saied is not similar, for example, to the US government's treatment of elections in Venezuela (which it declared "fraudulent") or to President Joe Biden's public criticism of election results in Georgia.

Moreover, the situation in Tunisia isn't stopping Americans from continuing to sell weapons and armaments to the local military there. So why does the State Department, which uses a special unit to monitor the use of American weapons by the IDF to determine if it is committing war crimes and thus restrict their sale to it, suddenly not express concern about selling weapons to an African dictator who has crushed the hopes of millions? How is Tunisia's case different?

Anger over vaccines

The US has maintained close ties with Tunisia for decades, since its independence in 1956 – long before the Arab Spring revolution. Due to its location in North Africa, it is considered a vital ally of both EU countries and the US. In 2012, it signed agreements to strengthen political and economic ties with countries north of it, and three years later, it gained status as a major non-NATO ally of the US.

Many Tunisians have always viewed America as the model superpower, and the EU was the main trading partner of the former French colony. The local military purchases weapons from European and US manufacturers and conducts joint exercises with their armed forces.

However, since Saied's rise to power, Tunisia's relations with the US are approaching a crossroads: Will Tunisia remain an ally of Western nations, or will it drift toward the opposing axis led by Russia, China, and Iran? And what will be decisive – security and economic interests or the state of human rights in Tunisia?

There are multiple reasons why Tunisia itself is distancing itself from the US. One is its traditional stance against what are considered "Western" values and against Israel in particular. Tunisia consistently adopts anti-Israeli or anti-Western positions. Tensions with the US intensified in the 1980s due to Israeli attacks on PLO camps in Tunisia and later due to American intervention in the First Gulf War. The Americans also complained that Tunisia showed too much leniency toward suspects in an attack on the US embassy in the country two decades later, in 2012.

President Saied, even before Operation Iron Swords began, refused to join the Abraham Accords and establish relations with Israel, despite the existence of a Jewish community in the country for hundreds of years. Since the war began, tension has developed between Tunisia and the US over American support for Israel and over the administration's refusal to use all tools at its disposal to pressure the IDF to end the war. Some analysts have argued that the damage caused by the situation may be irreparable.

There are other reasons for Tunisian disappointment with the Americans: Many there felt dismissal from the US, as if the country was good enough for fighting terrorism but doesn't receive good treatment in other areas. During the COVID crisis, the outbreak in Tunisia was among the worst in the world, and delays in vaccine shipments from the US frustrated many in the country – especially when shipments of inferior Chinese vaccines arrived in many Arab countries whose relations with the Americans were cold enough for the Chinese taste.

Tunisian relations with Europe have largely focused on immigration issues in recent years. The expectation on the neighboring continent was that Tunisia – as a transit country from sub-Saharan regions to Europe – would make efforts to stop migrants on their way to the continent. In return, Europeans offered very little cooperation, including a $1 billion program in loans and grants. This may seem an enormous sum, but when compared to the $20 billion Europeans offered Tunisia in 2011, it's not large. Considering the massive effort required from Tunisia to stop the masses of migrants, the amount is considered insufficient.

The Tunisian approach to the West is partly related to the power struggle between world superpowers. China and Russia are trying to accumulate assets worldwide and gain political and economic footholds at the expense of the US and Europe. In this context, countries like Tunisia, sitting at geographical and economic crossroads, are valuable prizes. However, such countries understand that competition for their allegiance allows them to weigh the advantages of connecting with each side. In this case, Tunisia is weighing the benefits of its longstanding alliance with Europe and the US against the tempting possibilities inherent in deepening ties with China and Russia.

The Europeans have developed dependence on the Tunisians – both in trade between the country and the continent, though not a huge portion of their trade, and in fighting illegal immigration to their shores. This means Tunisians have leverage over Europeans, especially regarding immigration. The US also needs Tunisians to fight jihadist terrorism due to the country's influential geographical location in the Mediterranean region. This means Americans and Europeans must maneuver to maintain relations with Saied, even if they consider his actions problematic.

Moreover, the disadvantages of Tunisian defection to the Russian axis are even more severe. Tunisia would give Moscow an important foothold in the Mediterranean at a time when its main stronghold in Syria is becoming unstable. The Kremlin wants to establish military bases in strategic locations along African and Mediterranean coasts, trying to increase its influence and military prestige – and the Tunisians are using this desire as a tool to increase their bargaining power with the Russians.

Meanwhile, as part of zigzagging between both sides, Tunisia announced abandoning negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a large rescue package it desperately needs, and instead announced its intention to join BRICS, led by China, Iran, and Russia. This is an economic organization competing with the West, whose members include Brazil, Egypt, India, and South Africa. In President Saied's view, the loan guarantee conditions from the International Monetary Fund seemed like "foreign dictation" and an attempt at takeover, so he refused to accept them.

The courtship of BRICS may just be an effort to diversify Tunisia's economic support rather than an attempt to disconnect from its alliances with Western nations. The Tunisians have an interest in expanding relations with both sides, aiming to maintain flexibility in the long term.

Realpolitik

The US understands the trap it's in regarding Tunisia and is working to convince Saied to maintain good relations with the Western bloc. Dialogue with a dictator is always problematic, as he can defect and switch sides at any moment due to a simple whim.

Therefore, the Americans are trying to promote democratization programs in Tunisia, aiming to spark identification with liberal values and solidify its connection to the Western bloc. Opening Tunisia's economy to Western channels might also distance its leadership from Russia and China, given the need to operate according to certain economic codes. Thus, the Americans are working with Europeans to create economically beneficial relations with the Tunisians, trying to continue serving as an economic model for the African nation.

Another US course of action is promoting security cooperation. Besides using soft power to enhance America's power image, Washington ensures arming the Tunisians and making them develop military dependence on it. In recent years, the US went far, and as part of the special relationship with Tunisia as a non-NATO ally, it set a payment floor for military aid to the government: about $150 million annually. The payment floor was canceled only two years ago, a move expressing the Democratic administration's displeasure with the anti-democratic reform led by President Saied.

Besides this, the Americans maintained relations with the Tunisian military for counterterrorism purposes, while cultivating personal relationships with senior military officials. In parallel, the US worked to conduct training for internal security personnel in the country, aiming to promote democratic procedures in this field in Tunisia as well.

The American deliberation regarding President Saied stemmed partly from popular support for his actions among Tunisians: How can promoting liberal values exist contrary to what the people themselves want? How can the US promote democratization in a country whose population voted to restrict its own freedom?

This dilemma recalls what happened in Egypt after the Muslim Brotherhood's victory in the 2012 elections when Mohamed Morsi rose to power. What the Americans tried to do, attempting to prevent the continuation of anti-democratic steps in Tunisia, was to support programs that would not help the president advance his dictatorship. But now, due to the trend's continuation, the Americans need to decide again what to do: Should they cut aid funds, making Tunisia more exposed to terrorism and perhaps also joining the Russian-Chinese-Iranian axis? And how will the US continue supporting Tunisia's army, which has recently become increasingly political?

Meanwhile, it seems the Americans – or at least the State Department – aren't letting concerns about democracy's deterioration in Tunisia stand in their way. Anti-tank missiles are considered defensive weapons that cannot harm the local population or be used for offensive atrocities. In any case, the Americans will certainly exercise extra caution regarding their relations with the Tunisians, but for now, they are not expected to alienate or sever them. Donald Trump's presidency won't change the trend, as individual rights in Tunisia seem more important, specifically to the Democratic Party in the US.

One can also note that this is a good example of realpolitik that sometimes characterizes Democrats in US foreign relations. Officials in Washington don't base their foreign policy only on noble values, and not infrequently, they "get their hands dirty" in relations with dictators trying to advance American interests worldwide.

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Tunisian president Kais Saied pledged on Wednesday to guarantee the safety of Jewish citizens and their temples, after meeting the country's chief rabbi in the wake of a terrorist attack at a synagogue.

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Last Tuesday a National Guardsman killed two Jewish visitors and two policemen at the synagogue on Djerba island - Africa's oldest - before being shot dead. He had earlier killed a colleague at a naval installation.

Saied last week blamed the attack on "criminals" seeking to harm the tourism sector. On Wednesday he met with Tunisia's chief rabbi, chief Christian archbishop, and Muslim mufti, saying that receiving clerics sent a "historical message" of coexistence and tolerance. "We will provide you security in your temples. Live in peace and security, and we will provide you with all security conditions," Saied said in a broadcast of part of the meeting.

The Jewish victims of the attack, which occurred during an annual festival, were two cousins, one French-Tunisian and the other Israeli-Tunisian. "The president gave us guarantees that what happened recently would not happen again", Chief Rabbi Haïm Bittan said.

Saied did not describe the shooting as terrorism, a term he has sometimes used to label interventions by his political opponents since he extended his powers in 2021.

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An attack near a synagogue in Tunisia killed at least two security officers and at least two visitors on Tuesday the government said amid the annual Lag Baomer pilgrimage to the island of Djerba that draws hundreds of Jews from Europe and Israel. At total of 6 were killed by the perpetrator.

The attack was staged by a guard at a naval installation on Djerba who used his weapon to shoot a colleague and seize his ammunition before heading towards the synagogue, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

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The attacker fired indiscriminately at security units located near the synagogue, killing the two visitors and another security officer, as well as injuring five security officers and four visitors. Security forces then shot him dead, the Tunisian Interior Ministry said.

Video: Use under the terms of Israel's Intellection Property Law, Article 27a

The Tunisian foreign ministry said one of the visitors killed was French and one was Tunisian. Video posted on social media that Reuters was not immediately able to verify showed frightened-looking people standing in a courtyard as a gunshot rang out. Residents of the island said they had heard an exchange of fire.

Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed one of the victims was Israeli. "Among the dead were two Jewish cousins, one with Israeli citizenship and the other with foreign citizenship," the ministry said. "The Foreign Ministry is in contact with the family members of the deceased, and is prepared to provide assistance to additional Israelis as needed," the statement reads.

Authorities did not identify a motive for the attack but Islamist militants have previously targeted the pilgrimage in Djerba and have staged other attacks in the country. Tunisia's last significant attack was a blast targeting police outside the US embassy in 2020 that killed one officer. Two suicide blasts targeted police outside the French embassy in 2019, also killing one officer.

Islamist militants killed scores of tourists in two separate attacks at a beach resort and a Tunis museum in 2015. The annual pilgrimage to Africa's oldest synagogue regularly draws hundreds of Jews from Europe and Israel to Djerba, a holiday destination off the coast of southern Tunisia, 500 km (300 miles) from the capital Tunis.

The pilgrimage has had tight security since al Qaeda militants attacked the synagogue in 2002 with a truck bomb, killing 21 Western tourists. Mainly Muslim Tunisia is home to one of North Africa's largest Jewish communities. Though they now number fewer than 1,800 people, Jews have lived in Tunisia since Roman times.

US Ambassador Joey Hood visited the synagogue on Monday along with the US envoy for monitoring and combating antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt, according to US embassy post on Twitter.

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Jewish women and children who arrived in Israel after 1953 from Tunisia will be recognized his Holocaust survivors by the state, Israel Hayom as learned. The policy until now has excluded this group from being treated as Holocaust survivors to the full extent, denying them various stipends and entitlements. This, despite the forced labor that they had to endure under the Nazi occupation. 

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The nonprofit Aviv for Holocaust Survivors has in recent months filed on behalf of the claimants new applications, with resounding success, essentially making their status equivalent to other Holocaust survivors. This means that several thousands of shekels will likely now be added to their monthly stipends and they would qualify for various other benefits from the government. 

The success affects an initial 400 women who had to work in forced labor conditions, along with 300 children who joined them. They had been denied this status because they immigrated to Israel after October 1953, which was the cutoff date, effectively making them eligible only for reduced benefits. Now, instead of getting just several thousands of shekels once a year, they would get a monthly allowance, which could be "life-changing" for some. The government stressed that future applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, although it is likely that they will be approved as well if they meet the new criteria. 

In 2015, the government decided to grant full Holocaust survivor status to Romanian immigrants who were subject to forced labor conditions because of a Nazi law that was issued at the time. The government decided to apply this to Jewish men from Tunisia who were 18 to 50 at the time, but not to women and children. But in recent years women and children from Tunisia who had also been subject to the same condition began sharing their testimony, only to be rejected by the Israeli officials, who said that there was no official law under Nazi occupation that made them carry out forced labor. But the testimony proved that in practice, they had to do the same job as others who were subject to such laws, in effect, because they were subject to abuse and whims of the Nazis who acted on their own without an official law. 

Ravit Lieberman, who is the head of the relevant department at the Finance Ministry said, "Those who write to us that they were subject to forced labor or had to join their mother who carried out such activity, will get our benefit of the doubt. We will not try to verify every detail of their account.' She noted that while it won't be an automatic process, because some of the funds have to match criteria set by the German government, the goal is to "make the lives easier for all Holocaust survivors." , 

Orly Sivan, who is the CEO of Aviv for Holocaust Survivors, said, "In recent months, we have led a campaign to find hundreds of Holocaust survivors from Tunisia so that we can update them on the recent developments and help them get what they deserve. Every day we receive new information on applications that had been approved thanks to the nonprofit. I call on all Holocaust survivors to call our helpline and see if we can help you free of charge to maximize what you are entitled to. In many cases, this could change lives and we see this every day. "

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Tunisia withdrew from cinemas a new Agatha Christie adaptation starring Gal Gadot following protests over "normalization" with the Jewish state, officials said Wednesday.

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British director Kenneth Branagh's "Death on the Nile," already banned in Kuwait and Lebanon for the same reason, will no longer be shown in cinemas across the North African country, according to press release.

Movie theaters had been showing the film since Feb. 9 but, following protests, a government ministry and Tunisia's visual arts authority agreed to ban it, activists and Tunisian media said.

"The main actress in the film is Israeli, was trained in the [Israeli] army and supports the colonization of Palestinian territory," said Kaouther Saida Chebbi, head of an anti-Zionist woman's movement.

Cinemas in Tunis confirmed to AFP that they would no longer show the film.

In 2014, Gadot posted on Facebook a message in support of Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Tunisia, which hosted the Palestinian Liberation Organization from 1982-1994, has a long history of backing the Palestinian cause.

In 2017 the country banned Patty Jenkins' film "Wonder Woman," which also starred Gadot.

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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Nurse Amina Ben Hammou beamed with pride when President Kais Saied named Najla Bouden Romdhane as Tunisia's first woman prime minister on Wednesday.

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"I am optimistic about a woman being prime minister, so let's try it," she said.

"And I imagine, according to my opinion, that a woman will make Tunisia succeed because women are serious, combative, and patient, and these three things are very important."

Saied asked Bouden, a little-known professor of geophysics who implemented World Bank projects at the education ministry, to form a government quickly amid a political crisis following his near-total seizure of power.

Last week, Saied suspended most of the constitution, saying he could rule by decree during an "exceptional" period with no set ending, calling into question democratic gains after Tunisia's Arab Spring uprising in 2011.

Elected in 2019, Saied has been under domestic and international pressure to name a government after he dismissed the prime minister, suspended parliament, and assumed executive authority in July in moves his foes call a coup.

However, Bouden's appointment marks a social advance in the Muslim country, which has some of the most progressive laws governing women's rights in North Africa and the Middle East.

Religion-based personal status laws govern marriage, child custody, divorce, and inheritance although activists say Tunisia still discriminates in men's favor when it comes to inheritance rights.

Saied asked Bouden to propose a cabinet in the coming hours or days "because we have lost a lot of time.".

His closest adviser is also a woman - presidency office director Nadia Akacha. She had been tipped as one of the likely candidates for prime minister before he tapped Bouden.

Women have only rarely held senior political roles in Arab countries. Yet Saied's actions raise questions over whether Bouden will be given the tools to govern in a nation facing a crisis in public finances after years of economic stagnation were aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic and political infighting.

The new government urgently needs financial support for the budget and debt repayments after Saied's changes put talks with the International Monetary Fund on hold.

Bouden's appointment lifted some spirits, despite the limitations she will face.

"We were waiting for this moment, and I imagine that any woman, not only in Tunisia, but in the world, and any woman in the free world, is waiting at a moment like this that a woman is appointed to this position," said teacher Mouna Ben Sad.

'I just hope that she will do a good job and I hope that she will carry out a good program."

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At one of the main intersections on the island of Djerba – where most Tunisian Jews live – local non-Jewish residents erected a directional sign that says "Al Quds, capital of Palestine, 3,090 km." The sign was placed after local authorities gave official permission to the initiative.

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"This represents the devotion of Djerba, and all Tunisians, to defending the Palestinian struggle and Al-Quds [Jerusalem] as the eternal capital of occupied Palestine," residents told media after putting up the sign. Reporters praised the show of solidarity of a conflict taking place thousands of miles away from the tourist island.

Approximately 1,000 Jews currently live in Djebra and make up Tunisia's largest Jewish community, and second-largest in the Arab world, after the Moroccan Casablanca community, which has between 1,500-2,000 members.

A few hundred meters away from the directional sign to Jerusalem is located the El Ghriba synagogue, which attests to Jerusalem being the eternal capital of the Jewish people. According to tradition, Temple priests who fled Jerusalem after the destruction of the First Temple brought remnants of the ruins and used them when building the synagogue. The name "El Ghriba" means "the marvelous" in Arabic and reflects the special status of the synagogue in the traditions of the Jews of Tunisia.

It was one of the first ones to be established in North Africa and has since then undergone renovations and become an annual pilgrimage destination for Jews and non-Jews alike. The synagogue used to be a vital source of income for residents of the island, that is, until the coronavirus pandemic and the deterioration of the security situation in southern Tunisia.

Since its establishment, only twice has the annual pilgrimage to the El Ghriba synagogue been canceled. In 2011, following a revolution that forced then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee – that subsequently inspired the Arab Spring – and in 2020, with the outbreak of the pandemic.

The current president, Kais Saied, has made it clear, even before taking office, that he would not allow anyone with an Israeli passport to enter the country, not even to visit the synagogue. The Abraham Accords, in which Arab countries normalized ties with Israel, he called "an incredible betrayal."

Unfortunately, the historical importance of the synagogue made it into a target for terror attacks, the latest and deadliest of which happened 19 years ago, when an al-Qaeda suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into the entrance of the building, setting off an explosion that killed 19 people, 14 of whom were German tourists.

The last time I went on a pilgrimage to the El Ghriba synagogue was in 2012. Back then, Tunisia's new democratic government was doing everything in its power to disperse the fears of the Islamist Ennahda Movement political party – led by Muslim Brotherhood official Rached Ghannouchi – becoming Tunisia's most powerful political force.

In August 2021, I returned to Algeria again. I passed the concrete barrier built around the El Ghriba synagogue and its many fences, yet inside, there was minimal security: a single armed soldier and a bored officer in charge of the metal detector. It was a Friday afternoon, shortly before the beginning of Shabbat. There were no more than a dozen people inside, tourists from France, Italy and the United States.

The severity of the coronavirus crisis and the unprecedented move by Saied of relieving the prime minister of his duties, waiving the immunity of the parliament and declaring a state of emergency in the country have again turned Tunisia into a dangerous country.

The El Ghriba synagogue's halls are mostly empty today, as is the donation box to the entrance of the building. It is located in the village of Erriadh, which has in recent years become a tourist attraction. In 2014, dozens of artists from 30 countries turned the village's alleys, walls and houses into a permanent open-air museum with more than 250 mural paintings. They named the project "Djerbahood", and the only political subjects covered in the art that stood out was that of Palestine.

At the entrance of one shabby-looking alley, called "Palestine Street," I saw a large painted red heart, surrounded by barbed wire and the words "Salam" (Arabic for "peace"). Other pieces showed young Palestinians throwing stones, with the words "Returning to Palestine" above them, or Mary holding Jesus in her hands as well as the Palestinian flag, with the Dome of the Rock and the Temple Mount behind her.

When I first visited Tunisia on the eve of the signing of the Oslo Accords, most of the non-Jewish residents I met told me they wanted the Palestine Liberation Organization officials – who fled to Djerba from Lebanon in 1982 – to be gone.

The PLO members led a luxurious life, while locals were content with living a simple one. They have witnessed the myth of the Palestinian "misery" and "sacrifice" and the corruption of the Palestinian leadership.

The leaders did end up leaving their fancy Tunisian villas behind and moved to Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip. Less than 30 years later, locals have forgotten what they had seen and experienced and began to admire the Palestinians again, probably in an effort to compensate for the resounding failure of democracy in the country.

It is a common tendency in the Arab world: the more failures a country is going through, the more solidarity it expresses with the Palestinians. Tunisia's markets carry scarves in Palestinian flag colors and paintings of mosques in Jerusalem. On one of the main roads of Djerba, I saw a Palestinian flag hoisted above a school.

The country that was considered a democratic success in the Arab world just a decade ago – compared to the bloody civil wars in Lybia, Yemen, and Syria and the military rule in Egypt – has failed to build a strong enough political system. The socio-economic crisis that prompted the revolution, and subsequently the Arab Spring, not only wasn't solved but only become worse.

Last month, the country's health system was on the verge of collapse. The daily coronavirus mortality rate reached 200-300 deaths, among the highest in the world. Most of the local population, especially in poor communities, did not adhere to health guidelines like wearing masks or social distancing.

Thus far, over 23,000 Tunisians have lost their lives to the virus of the 12 million population. About 8,000 test positive for the virus every day, and local hospitals are overwhelmed. The situation got so bad that Tunisia had to resort to using ventilators donated by the Palestinian Authority. It is this catastrophic situation that Saied used – or took advantage of – to go ahead with his controversial political changes.

The national vaccination campaign began only in August, using inoculations donated by other countries. More than half a million Tunisians ages 40 and up received their inoculations the next day. Another million aged 18 and up received it a week later. The never-ending lines to the vaccination sites were a source of an infection outbreak of their own.

"The main problem is that Tunisia does not have the proper infrastructure for such mass vaccination," one US healthcare worker, who came to Tunisia to aid the campaign, said. "Moreover, we have to make sure that there are enough vaccines for a second shot for those who have already been vaccinated, and for that, Tunisia depends on the goodwill of other nations."

The pandemic affected the Tunisian Jewish community as well, although not as bad as the rest of the country or Jewish communities abroad.

"We had many who got infected with the virus, but thank God, did not die," one Djerba community leader said. "A lot of members received their jabs at the beginning of the vaccine drive. With the outbreak of the pandemic, in April 2020, we closed all the synagogues, and they remained closed for months.

"Slowly-slowly, they began to operate again. Worshippers wore masks and kept social distancing. We limit the number of people allowed to enter based on the size of the synagogue. In the past, we used to have three synagogues for the High Holidays, but this year, we might set up six of them to allow for social distancing. If many more members get vaccinated, then we might keep it at three synagogues in order to minimize expenses."

The Tunisian Jewish communities receive no state funding whatsoever. They cover all expenses themselves, mostly from donations of former members who left Tunisia.

The community leader, just like many members, requested to remain anonymous. The political situation in the country, especially the president's decision to waive the immunity of the parliament, has made Jews more fearful, wondering if they are living on borrowed time. Many tried to present the current situation in the country as less grim than it really is out of fear that local authorities might find out they criticized the government.

Tunisia presents itself to the world as a tolerant and democratic state, even to Jews. In 2018, it appointed Rene Trabelsi, a Jewish businessman born in Djerba, as tourism minister. The move ignited protests over Trabelsi's "pro-Zionistic" views. He served in office for a year and a half before the government's term ended.

At the same time, there have been several attacks on Jews in recent years that were attributed to Islamist elements. In January 2018, unknown individuals threw Molotov cocktails into a Jewish school in Djerba. Fortunately, no one was injured, and damage to the property was minimal. The local Jewish community said the attack was most likely linked to the protests that were taking place in Djerba at the time due to a rise in basic product prices. Perpetrators took advantage of the fact that the police presence in public places had been reduced to avoid escalating the situation.

Antisemitic content was also spread on social media. "The synagogue in Djerba must be targeted until it disappears," one post read. Another one called for the exile of Jews from the country and the burning of the El Ghriba synagogue.

In the mid-1950s, when Tunisia gained independence from France, more than 100,000 Jews lived there. According to locals, there are currently 1,400 of them left. The largest Jewish community is in Djerba, with 1,000 members. Some 300 Jews live in the capital, Tunis, and another 100 in Zarzis, which is near Djerba.

"At the end of the 1980s, there were six or seven active synagogues in Tunis," the community leader said. "Today, there are only two."

Saied was only seven years old when Habib Bourguiba – the father of modern Tunisia and its first president – called for the recognition of the state of Israel in 1965, and only 15 years old when the second Bourguiba initiative to end the Arab-Israel conflict (based on the United Nations Partition Plan) was published in July 1973.

He experienced the Arab defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War, which prompted violent demonstrations against Jews throughout Tunisia and led to a wave of immigration to France and Israel. He also experienced the Arab "victory" in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which also ignited fury in the country.

During the presidential election campaign in 2019, reporters asked Saied a few days before the second conclusive round of voting about his opinion on the Abraham Accords - in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalized ties with Israel.

Speaking in literary Arabic, which he uses to communicate with the world and present himself as a sophisticated and loyal Arab, Saied began his answer with a story about his father, Moncef, who he claims had saved the life of a French-Jewish activist of Tunisian descent during the Holocaust.

"The Jews are not the problem," he told reporters. "The term 'normalization' is a faulty one. Whoever cooperates with an entity that exiled an entire people for more than a century is a traitor and should be prosecuted for treason. The natural reaction should be to go out to war with the occupier."

"What will you do to Israelis who come to Djerba?" the reporter asked.

"We work with Jews and we will protect Jews," the Tunisian president answered. "But not those who have Israeli passports. Never."

In the second round, Saied won 73% of the vote, which came from a contradicting set of voters – young Tunisians, Ennahda Movement voters, and supporters of Arab-nationalists who oppose the Islamist Ennahda Movement. Since then, he has taken every opportunity to express support "not for the Palestinian cause, but the rights of the Palestinians," as he puts it.

And yet, unlike many Arab countries who condemned the UAE and Bahrain for signing a peace deal with Israel, Saied refrained from doing so, most likely due to Tunisia's dependency on the Gulf States.

The Saudi and Bahraini foreign ministers recently visited Tunisia and expressed support for Saied's efforts to keep the Ennahda Movement from gaining political power. Recently, Saied also refused to meet with a representative from Qatar, considered a top supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Even when fellow Maghreb nation Morocco normalized ties with Israel, Saied kept quiet due to close regional ties with Rabat. When Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid inaugurated a liaison office in the Moroccan capital two weeks ago, the Tunisian media kept silent. As such, is there a chance that Tunisia will be next to normalize ties with Israel?

"No way," another Jewish community official said. "The Abraham Accords surprised everyone. No one could have predicted that something like this would happen. And yet, Tunisia is not ready for such a step. Only after Israel signs a peace deal with the Palestinians will Tunisia follow suit."

Q: Would you say that the Jewish community lives life in fear? 

"I don't think that as Jews we have more worries than the rest of the population: the difficult economic situation, the political limbo, the coronavirus. Since the revolution and the swearing-in of the president on July 25, there have been no special developments with regard to Jews. The status quo remains. 

"The revolution brought about freedom of the press and fair elections. Beforehand, Islamists used to keep a low profile. Today they are in the streets, expressing their opinions. For years, Jews have been emigrating from Tunisia. The young ones were the first to leave, and parents followed suit.

"Every family that moves away leaves a gap behind. Djerba has become the Jewish center of Tunisia. It has many synagogues, Jewish schools – a few years ago, we established a girls' school, yeshivas and kindergartens. The Jewish population in Djerba is 100% religious."

Q: Is there a future for Jews in Tunisia?

"The Jewish community in Tunis will come to an end at some point, it has already begun disappearing. But there will be a community in Djerba. What can be done? It is expensive to run a community: you need a synagogue, a school, kosher food. There is only one kosher meat shop in Tunis, opposite the main synagogue. Jews do not like instability, and the political crisis has led to it in Tunisia."

When the summers get unbearably hot, residents of Tunis seek haven in the La Goulette city on the seaside. It is also a popular destination among Jews, who chose to spend the High Holidays here, instead of France, as many others do.

"All of the houses you see around used to belong to Jews," one member of the local Jewish community said. "Today, we have one nursing home, surrounded by a fence with police security, and a synagogue that struggles to gather 10 men for prayers.

"Tunisia used to have a vibrant Jewish community, with Jews that came here from Spain and Portugal, as well as Italy. Today it's Jews in the south [Djerba] who keep the flame alive.

"The community in Tunis has very few young people, there are maybe 20-25 of them. In Djerba, there are five or six weddings every year, in Tunis maybe one wedding every two or three years. As soon as they are done with their SATs, young people run away from here.

"The situation will improve if things get better on a national level. There are synagogues, cemeteries, Torah scrolls in Tunisia. We cannot protect them if there are no Jews here. But people will move to Djerba and Tunis if that provides them with financial stability. Until the Messiah arrives, who will take us to the land of Israel?"

According to the resident, the new political situation in Tunisia and the Islamists gaining more power did not create difficulties for the Jews.

"We have no problems with the parties," he said. "We stay out of politics. We just want to know what is going on around us.

"After the revolution, there were fears and worries, especially whether the Islamists would be bothered with the presence of other religions in the country. But the fears disappeared. The government met with Jewish community leaders and the chief rabbi and sent more police to protect us.

"We have no conflict with the general population, quite the opposite. Many [non-Jews] say that Trabelsi was the only minister who did his job well. Tunisians do not have a problem with Jews."

However, they do have a problem with Israel.

"The Tunisian and Arab media have created this image of Israel as a state of thieves, murderers and criminals. Most of the public thinks Israel has no right to exist. They didn't like the Palestinians who lived here, but they also don't like Israel.

"During the latest conflict in Gaza [Operation Guardian of the Walls], I stood up for Israel on social media. My friends said that Israelis are criminals, murderers of children, the usual propaganda. There was no one with public influence and social media presence who would defend Israel." 

Q: Do you think that Tunisia is unlikely to ever normalize ties with Israel? After all, there was an official Israeli office here in the past, but it was closed in October 2000 at the beginning of the Second Intifada.

"The general atmosphere in Tunisia is grim. Some understand that developing ties with Israel would only help Tunisia, that Morocco and Sudan and other countries who normalized ties with Israel are receiving aid. But they are a minority. As long as someone with an influence on the public does not explain the situation accurately – that Israel is defending itself against terrorists – nothing will change. 

"When the Tunisian tennis team decided to play against Israel in the Federation Cup in February 2020, the criticism was overwhelming. When Tunisian singer Noamane Chaari recorded a song with Israeli singer Ziv Yehezkel, last December, people protested." 

Chaari and Yehezkel collaborated to promote peace between religions, but instead the Tunisian singer began to receive death threats. 

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"We thought that with the advent of democracy and freedom of expression after the revolution, there would be a change with regard to Israel as well, as happened in many other Arab countries, but it did not happen. Israelis should not run after Tunisians to seek peace. Tunisians should be the ones chasing after Israelis."

Unfortunately, it is not only Tunisia's Jewish community that is dwindling. So does the memory of coexisting. The country's young generation has never seen Tunisians and Jews on excellent terms, as they were in the 1950s. They also do not know of all the contributions Jews have made to the country.

When I first visited Tunisia, locals expressed hopes that Jews would help rehabilitate the country's economy. Ben Ali's presidency was considered the golden age of cooperation between Tunisia, Jews and Israel. But in 2021, almost no one talks longingly of the return of the Jews.

S., a Jew from the south of the country, splits his time between Djerba and France. He remembers the reactions of his Arab friends to the First Lebanon War in 1982. 

"I had a lot of Arab friends then," he said. "Even though we were careful not to assimilate, I had a lot of non-Jewish friends. But they completely changed, just like that, in a matter of a single day. I think they have an underlying hatred of Jews and Israel. They are taught to do this from a young age. 

"My non-Jewish friends knew very well that I was religious, that I went to synagogue, that I kept kosher. We studied together. We played football together. But as soon as the war started, they said to me, 'When the opportunity arises, we will kill you first.'"

Q: What is keeping Jews in Tunisia?

"Some have gotten used to living here and do not want it to change. They hear about the problems in France and Israel. The option of moving to France is no longer on the table, everyone here knows that there is no future for the Jewish community there. It is nothing like it used to be. The only possible destination is Israel.

"But people are afraid of change. Some families don't have the means to make aliyah. Life is very expensive in Israel, and here the standard of living is much lower, Jews can earn a living and make ends meet. Moreover, Jews in Tunisia are religious. In Israel, there are yeshivas, but some still worry that they might lose their Judaism. In the meantime, we pray for the redemption and ultimate aliyah to Israel."

One of the rare Tunisian voices calling for normalizing ties with Israel is Mounir Baatour, lawyer and head of the Tunisian Liberal Party. In 2019, he was the first openly gay presidential candidate in the Arab world. The election committee rejected his candidacy for no apparent reason, and after receiving death threats, Baatour fled to France in 2020. From exile, he hopes that one day Tunisia will normalize ties with the Jewish state.

However, "as long as Saied is president, with the populism, antisemitism and his fear of Jews, it is impossible," Baatour said. "The president's latest moves are unconstitutional. Article 80 of the Constitution, which he keeps justifying his actions with, does not allow a president to relieve the parliament of its responsibilities."

Q: How would you sum up the last decade in Tunisia since the Arab Spring? 

"It was a lousy ten years, excuse me for using such language. The Islamists have been in power for 10 years, and all they have done is drag the country into an economic crisis. Poverty has peaked, unemployment increased, there is more illegal immigration. Moreover, the country's health system is in a catastrophic state. Tunisia has done nothing but walk backward for 10 years."

Q: Do you think it is possible for Islamists and democracy to coexist?

"No. Islamists do not believe in democracy. For them, it is just a means. They use democracy and elections to seize power and use it as they please. Islam is an anti-democratic religion, for it says that power is in the hands of God and his representatives, not the people."

Q: Do you think Tunisians understand this?

"The Tunisians have seen Islamists fail, that they poisoned the lives of the people and took over the public leadership. More than 200,000 Islamists have been appointed to public positions since the Arab Spring. They also sought compensation for their years of 'struggle' against Ben Ali. Tunisians know this, and therefore, the current president has widespread support."

Q: Tunisia used to be known as a liberal and open-minded country. What is left of that perception today? 

"Women's rights – to get divorced, to abort a pregnancy, to adopt a child. All of these, adopted by Bourguiba, are still in place. However, the situation for minorities is terrible. From 2011 to 2021, more than 1,225 homosexuals were arrested by the Tunisian police. Christian missionarism has been outlawed, and anyone caught proselytizing can be sentenced to five years in prison. Many Christians have been imprisoned for this. 

"The Jewish minority keeps to itself. They are attacked by antisemites, provoked. The president himself is an antisemite. He is not a moderate Arab leader who supports the two-state solution. He thinks all of Israel should become Palestinian territory and Jews be thrown into the Mediterranean, all of which no doubt, affect the public's perception of the Jews as well."

The post How can Tunisia's Jews escape national quagmire? appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

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Police intervened Monday to prevent clashes outside the parliament building between lawmakers from Islamist party Ennahdha, which dominates the Assembly of the Representatives of the People of Tunisia, and demonstrators supporting the president.

The dissolution of parliament had been among the demands of thousands of protesters who defied virus restrictions and scorching heat to demonstrate Sunday in the capital, Tunis, and other cities. The largely young crowds shouted "Get out!" and called for early elections and economic reforms. Clashes erupted in many places.

Tunisia's economy has been struggling for years, and the country recently reimposed lockdowns and other virus restrictions because it's facing one of Africa's worst virus outbreaks.

The post Tensions in Tunisia after president suspends parliament, fires PM appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

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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The post 19 years after Djerba synagogue bombing, Tunisian Jews again live in fear appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.