Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed with the Mufti of the Republic Hichem ben Mahmoud, the Chief Rabbi of Tunisia Haim Bittan, and the Archbishop of Tunis Ilario Antoniazzi, at the Carthage Palace in Tunis, May 17, 2023. AFP / SERVICE DE PRESSE DE THE TUNISIAN PRESIDENCY
President Kaïs Saïed affirmed on Wednesday, May 17 that Tunisia was a country of ” tolerance and coexistence ” during a meeting with Jewish, Muslim, and Christian dignitaries after the deadly shooting outside a synagogue in Djerba. ” This is an essential historical meeting which attests to the tolerance and coexistence that have characterized Tunisia for centuries”, declared Kaïs Saïed when receiving the Mufti of the Republic Hichem ben Mahmoud, the Chief Rabbi of Tunisia Haim Bittan, and the Archbishop of Tunis Ilario Antoniazzi, according to a video of the presidency.
This meeting comes after the shooting perpetrated on May 9 by a gendarme near the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba during the annual Jewish pilgrimage. Three gendarmes and two faithful – an Israeli-Tunisian and a Franco-Tunisian – were killed by the assailant’s shots, before he was shot dead by the police.
“You can live in peace”
During this meeting, President Saïed assured that the investigation to determine the sponsors of this attack was progressing. Four people linked to the assailant, suspected of being involved in this operation, were arrested and placed in police custody, private radio Mosaïque FM said on Wednesday evening.
The Tunisian authorities denounced a criminal attack but refrained from qualifying it as terrorist or giving it an anti-Semitic dimension. Kais Saied told dignitaries on Wednesday that the attack was intended to “undermine Tunisia and its stability and sow discord and division there”. “You can live in peace and we will guarantee your security,” he said to the Tunisian Jewish community, once again denying any state anti-Semitism against it.
Affirming to distinguish between Judaism and Zionism, he also rejected any normalization with Israel and called on the international community to put an end to the tragedy of the Palestinian people. Rabbi Bittan described the meeting as excellent and affirmed to have received assurances that what happened (in Djerba) will not happen again. The Ghriba pilgrimage is at the heart of the traditions of Tunisians of the Jewish faith, who are only 1,500 compared to 100,000 before independence in 1956. In 2002, the synagogue was targeted by a suicide truck bomb attack which killed 21 dead. It had been claimed by Al-Qaeda.
