While the roughly 2,000 Jews currently living in Tunisia are but a fraction of the population of over 100,000 that was present at the end of World War II, they nonetheless constitute one of the largest and most secure Jewish communities in the Arab world. Given their small numbers, it is difficult to believe that they have much influence over the country. Tunisia’s president, however, seems to think otherwise, as Edy Cohen writes:
Ten years after the so-called “Arab Spring” began in Tunisia, that country is in the headlines once again. A series of violent demonstrations have taken place there against a backdrop of economic hardship. The Tunisian president Kais Saied, troubled by the demonstrations, employed the traditional means of gathering support and deflecting complaint away from himself: he blamed Israel and the Jews.
President Saied . . . stated on a recent visit to a Tunis suburb that the Jews are nothing but thieves. “We know very well who the people are who are controlling the country today,” he said to a crowd in a speech that was captured on video. “It is the Jews who are doing the stealing, and we need to put an end to it.” The accusation of theft is a well-known anti-Semitic slur that has been used against the Jews for centuries.
Saied was elected two years ago on campaign promises that he would maintain no ties with Israel, that normalization with Israel constitutes treason, and that he would bar Israelis from visiting the country. That being said, Saied has not issued any criticism of the four Arab states that signed peace agreements with Israel in recent months.
Read more on BESA Center: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/tunisia-kais-saied-jews/