Israel Matzav

Sunday, May 25, 2014

And again and again: Two (Three?) Jews stabbed in Paris, one in Djerba

Hours after four Jews, including two Israelis, were murdered at the Brussels Jewish museum, two or three more Jews were stabbed outside a Paris synagogue. It is also now being reported that another Jew was attacked by a Muslim mob on the island of Djerba in Tunisia on Thursday.

This is from the third link.

The two men, brothers in their 20s, were heading to an office located in Chaare Tsion Synaogue on Saturday night around 8:30 p.m. They were about 200 meters away from the synagogue when they noticed that they were being followed.

Shortly after, one of the brothers was struck with a metal object. The object that attacked the second brother was not identified.

The attackers fled on foot and by bike.

The victims suffered multiple contusions, but not life-threatening injuries. They were taken to Henri Mondor Hospital in Créteil.

The French minister of interior, Bernard Cazeneuve, announced on Sunday in a statement that he condemns the act "with the utmost severity." He instructed all neighborhoods to immediately increase security related to protecting the Jewish community.

I believe that 8:30 pm is still daylight in Paris in May. That means that - like the Brussels attack - it was awfully brazen.

Arutz Sheva adds:

Two Jewish men were attacked outside Paris Saturday night, French Interior Minister Bernard Caseneuve announced Sunday, as they were leaving a Creteil synagogue.

Caseneuve ordered police around France to increase security at Jewish houses of worship and other Jewish establishments, the Ministry stated. He condemned the attacked with "utmost severity."

Very few details are available on the attack. Sources told Israeli small-time news site 0404 Sunday morning that three French Jews were attacked - not two - and identified them as the synagogue's treasurer and his two sons. All three have been hospitalized, according to the report.

Meanwhile, in Djerba, another Jew barely escaped with his life from a Muslim mob on Thursday.

Masked Muslims entered the main market in Djerba on Thursday, and stabbed Gabriel Ozen, 38, a Jewish jeweler and father of four.

Passerby stated that the assailants yelled, "the nation of Mohammed is coming back to take revenge" shortly before the attack.

Ozen fought the Muslim attacker, but was still stabbed in the chest, authorities said. He was rushed to intensive care in local hospital and is in serious, but stable, condition.

According to local media reports, merchants on the scene were able to apprehend the perpetrator and turn him in to local police. Justice will not be served, however; more than a hundred masked men surrounded the police station and threatened to burn it down if the terrorist was prosecuted.

The police released the assailant immediately.

...

This is the second anti-Semitic attack in Tunisia this month. Muslim terrorists attacked Morris Bachiri, a Jewish merchant from El Hara El Kabira, on Passover Eve; Bachiri suffered minor injuries.

They want us all to move to Israel so that they may murder us more efficiently. May their names and memories be wiped out.

Labels: Djerba, European anti-Semitism, France, French anti-Semitism, Paris, Tunisia, Tunisian Jewry

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Increase in Tunisian aliya?

The Jewish Agency for Israel is denying a report that appeared in Friday's Haaretz and Yediot that claimed that 25 Tunisian Jewish families were making aliya, but the agency did say that 40-50 Tunisian Jews have made aliya since that country's regime change in January, and the Israeli government is encouraging them.

Israel is planning to offer Tunisian Jews interested in emigrating following the recent uprising in the country a special absorption package, but members of the community said on Thursday that they were unaware of any significant change in their situation.

“They’ll receive a year of no-questions accommodation at an aliya center, and other benefits on top of what others get,” said Jewish Agency for Israel spokesman Haviv Rettig Gur.

Earlier Thursday, the Immigrant Absorption Ministry announced that the government would debate the details of the package, which will purportedly offer NIS 10,000 to Tunisian Jews in addition to benefits awarded to other olim.

“The regime change in Tunisia as a result of the Jasmine revolution... has brought about the Islamization of the government and rise in anti-Semitism,” stated a ministry document quoted by Israeli media. “There has a been an increasingly worsening attitude by the authorities and society toward the Jewish community.”

Elad Sonn, the ministry spokesman, confirmed the wording of the document and said it was based on “information from the Jewish Agency.”

Roger Bismuth, president of the Jewish community in Tunisia, said he had not noted a change in the government’s attitude toward Jews, nor did he know of plans by community members to leave the country en masse, although he didn’t rule it out entirely.

“I doubt anybody has heard anything like that,” he said by phone from Tunis on Thursday. “It might be true, there’s so much gossip going around.”

Bismuth is the captain who can't abandon the ship until everyone else leaves. I'd bet on most Tunisian Jews making aliya in the near future - with some possibly going to France or the US. Why would anyone hang around to find out whether the Islamists are going to end up in charge?

But Yaakov Lozowick asks the most intriguing question:

what happens if a year from now it is clear the Arab Spring caused an Islamist takeover of the entire region? I'm not saying I know it will happen. But what if?

I'd bet on it happening. And I'd be happy to see the remaining Jews in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon etc. make aliya to Israel. But I'd bet on us being in a more precarious position because of it, unless all these Islamist regimes decide they had better worry about their home fronts before trying to destroy Israel.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Arab democracy, Tunisia, Tunisian Jewry