Grieving Jews in Djerba condemn decision to move bodies of shooting victims

Backlash as Tunisian authorities take bodies of two killed at Ghriba synagogue for autopsy

A police car is parked near Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba, where five people were killed in a gun attack on Tuesday night. AP Photo

Soldiers secure an area near the synagogue. AFP

President Kais Saied heads a national security council meeting in Tunis following the synagogue shooting. Reuters

Tourists walk through the alleys of the Hara Kebira, the main Jewish quarter in Djerba. AFP

Jewish men stand with a rabbi outside a yeshiva (Talmudic school) in the Hara Kebira, the main Jewish quarter in Djerba. AFP

Tunisian authorities were investigating the shootings. They sparked mass panic during a Jewish pilgrimage at Africa's oldest synagogue. AFP

People gather near the synagogue following the gun attack. Reuters

Hundreds of people were in the area at the time of the attack, as the annual pilgrimage to the synagogue was drawing to a close. AFP

Police take positions near the Ghriba synagogue on Tuesday night during the shootout. AFP

The Jewish community in Djerba is protesting against the authorities' decision to move the bodies of two Jewish civilians who were killed in a gun attack near a synagogue to the capital Tunis for an autopsy.

The victims’ families and relatives blocked the street outside Sadok Mkaddem regional hospital on the Tunisian island of Djerba, in objection to transferring the bodies from the hospital, which took place on Wednesday.

Five people were killed including two civilians in the shooting.

Aviel Haddad and Benjamin Haddad were caught in crossfire between police and the attacker. The cousins, who were dual citizens, were attending the annual Jewish pilgrimage at Ghriba synagogue and died on their way to watch a football match.

Their relatives voiced their anger at the latest move.

“They’ve worked their whole lives to build their homes here, now you don’t even allow them to enter it one last time,” said one of the protesters, who did not want to be named.

Protesters said the authorities had not allowed them to honour their traditions by reciting verses from the Torah in respect of those killed.

“Have some respect and let us at least have one good cry,” the protester added.

Djerba is home to the largest remaining Jewish community in North Africa.

The island is reeling from the fatal shooting in a place where Muslims and Jews have coexisted for years.

“It’s a tragedy … we were scared, we did not know what was going on as we kept hearing tens of military helicopters fly over our homes,” Fawzia told The National. The bystander has been living in Djerba with her family for 15 years.

“It [the pilgrimage] went really well and we had such a blissful time all together till the end,” she said.

The Ghriba pilgrimage is not only an occasion for local and Jewish visitors to fulfil a religious ritual, it is also a time when communities of various religious backgrounds come together to celebrate their coexistence.

Demanding the truth

An investigation into the attack, in which several others were injured, is under way.

A national guard reportedly shot his partner dead before opening fire on visitors and officers near the synagogue before being killed himself.

The motive and background of the gunman are not yet known.

“If something like that happens, you need to show yourselves and tell us what’s going on, you cannot hide,” Rabbi Levi, a French pilgrim of Tunisian descent, told The National. He said the Tunisian government had a responsibility towards the victims’ families.

“They deserve to know what happened,” he said.

Like many Tunisians in Djerba, Mr Levi said he had lost his faith in the system.

“You cannot hide the body or kidnap it … even if you do not respect the Jewish law, we are fine with that. Just let us know the situation,” he added.

For Amiel Diai, a long time friend of the two victims and a local jewish resident of Djerba, the shock of losing dear friends is amplified by authorities' seeming disregard to his community's grief.

“We did not ask for much, we just wanted to read Tehillim [Torah verses in Hebrew] on them but they did not let us,” Mr Diai told The National.

Mr Diai, who spoke to one of the victims, Aviel, just few minutes before the fatal shooting, said he has not been able to properly process the news or the loss he bore because of ensuing chaos and the lack of communication surrounding the incident.

“They [the police] are being rigid with us, it’s no longer worth living here to be honest,” he said.

Others from the Jewish community also expressed their frustration and hopelessness.

“There is no peace anymore in here [Djerba], one of us was killed by their [police] weapon and you’re telling me there is still peace,” Bingham, said a protester from Hara Kebira, the largest jewish neighbourhood in Djerba.

“When someone gets killed by a police weapon there’s no law but when asked to have a cry on the men in their father’s [ancestors] home, they suddenly remembered the law,” she added.

Like many others, Bingham said she felt that both the incident and its follow up made her feel no longer welcomed in Tunisia and staying in the country feels like a burden day after day.

Meanwhile, Tunisia’s President Kais Saied said in a meeting with the National Security Council on Wednesday that the parties behind the attack were “criminals who chose the Ghriba synagogue specifically, to sow discord, strike the tourism season and the state”.

Mr Said stressed Tunisia is a land of tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

It is not the first time the 2,500-year-old synagogue has been targeted.

In 2002, a bomb attack for which Al Qaeda claimed responsibility killed more than 20 people on the island.