2023-05-10 13:14:12
In the aftermath of the shooting that caused the death of four people during a pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue in Djerba, international reactions are multiplying. Religious and political officials paid tribute to the victims, two faithful including a Frenchman, as well as two gendarmes on duty during the tragedy. The assailant, one of their colleagues, was shot dead.
Emmanuel Macron reacted this Wednesday noon on Twitter: “The attack on the Ghriba synagogue upsets us. We think with pain of the victims, of the Tunisian people, our friends. We stand with the family of our murdered compatriot. Always, relentlessly, we will fight against anti-Semitic hatred,” the president promised.
France “condemns in the strongest terms this heinous act, perpetrated during an annual Jewish pilgrimage,” the Foreign Ministry said earlier. “We welcome the rapid intervention of the Tunisian security forces and we stand alongside Tunisia to continue the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of fanaticism,” added the Quai d’Orsay.
Across the Atlantic, “the United States deplores the attack in Tunisia which coincides with the annual Jewish pilgrimage which attracts worshipers from around the world to the Ghriba synagogue”, said on Twitter Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the state department.
The bereaved Jewish community
Many representatives of the Jewish community also reacted to this attack which targeted a synagogue on the island of Djerba. “It is an incredible violence to desecrate the Ghriba pilgrimage, a moment of union and prayers, which the faithful from all over the world attend every year”, tweeted this Wednesday Haïm Korsia, Chief Rabbi of France.
According to the organizers of the event, more than 5,000 Jewish pilgrims, mainly from abroad, participated this year in the Ghriba pilgrimage organized on the 33rd day of Passover.
Yonathan Arfi, president of Crif, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France, was also moved by the drama on Twitter: “The Jews live with a target behind their backs but we will not back down in the face of terrorism, in Djerba and everywhere else! To target the Ghriba in Tunisia is to kill Jews in both the present and the past, it is to target a symbol of Jewish history in North Africa. The Ghriba is indeed the oldest synagogue in Africa. In 2002, she was targeted in 2002 by a suicide truck bomb attack that killed 21 people.
The European Jewish Congress (ECJ) also said it was “shocked” and “outraged” in a statement. “Terrorist attacks continue to target Jews around the world, even when they are gathered to pray, as we have learned from countless experiences over the years, including in this same synagogue,” said Ariel Muzicant. , President of the CJE. At this stage, Tunisian authorities have not qualified the attack as a terrorist attack.
Representatives of other religions expressed their solidarity with the Jewish community, notably Hassen Chalghoumi, the imam of Drancy and president of the Conference of Imams of France. “All united against terrorism” he tweeted on Tuesday evening. The day before the attack, he was present at the Ghriba pilgrimage. “Let’s celebrate peace and living together,” he wrote on Twitter, sharing images of the event.
Tribute to the faithful Marseille killed
Among the victims is a Frenchman, a 42-year-old man from Marseille. The mayor of the city Benoît Payan paid tribute to him on Twitter, as well as to “the Jewish community struck by the horror of anti-Semitism”: “Marseille will always fight united against hatred. »
The Jewish consistory of Marseille saluted his memory in a press release: “We are thinking in particular of Benjamin Haddad, known and so loved by our community and we give all our support to his loved ones. He operated a kosher bakery in Marseille and was always willing to help the less fortunate in our community by providing the Shabbat Basket Shabbat Halots. »
In France, some political figures have denounced the anti-Semitic dimension of the attack. As Martine Vassal, president of the metropolis of Aix-Marseille-Provence and of the Departmental Council of Bouches du Rhône, on Twitter: “The attack in Djerba during the pilgrimage to La Ghriba is a new manifestation of hatred of the Jew. »
Éric Ciotti, President of the Republicans, also reacted: “Tunisia is bearing the brunt of the worrying rise of Islamism which feeds anti-Semitic hatred. All my support to the Jewish community around the world affected by this tragedy! »
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