Tunisian Jew Stabbed in Djerba
A Jewish Tunisian man was stabbed in the chest after a fight at the Jewish market in Djerba.
Tunisia’s chief rabbi, Chaim Bitan, was quoted as telling the news site AfricanManager.com that the unnamed victim sustained wounds that are not life threatening in the stabbing Thursday and is currently in hospital. The report did not say what led to the man’s stabbing, but it said the attacker was a Muslim man.
Last month, a member of the southern Tunisian island’s 2,000-strong Jewish community was wounded in another stabbing, which Tunisian police said was not a hate crime.
Approximately 1,500 Jews, including Israelis, visited Djerba this month for the annual Jewish pilgrimage to the El Ghriba synagogue.
But this year the pilgrimage was mired in controversy as opposition lawmakers accused the government of normalizing ties with Israel because it was letting in Israeli tourists.
Israel recently advised its citizens not to visit Tunisia for fear of terrorist attacks, according to the Israeli daily Yedioth Acharonot.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.