This is not a "terrorist" act but a "criminal operation", according to the Tunisian authorities. Six days after the attack at the synagogue in Djerba during the annual Jewish pilgrimage, which left five dead, Tunis is taking tweezers to qualify it. Thus, Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed refuses to use the word "anti-Semite" when referring to this attack in which three gendarmes and two worshippers - an Israeli-Tunisian and a Franco-Tunisian - were killed.

Elsewhere in the world, and especially in France, however, these adjectives have been used. The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) competent because of the French nationality of one of the victims opened Wednesday "an investigation of the charge of assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise".

Astonishment of the Tunisian president

"Always, relentlessly, we will fight against anti-Semitic hatred," French President Emmanuel Macron said in condemning the attack, in a message posted on Twitter. "We stand with Tunisia to continue the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of fanaticism," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said.

Kaïs Saïed then "expressed his astonishment at the reactions involving accusations of anti-Semitism against Tunisia", without specifying what he was referring to. "They talk about anti-Semitism, while Jews were protected here," he said Saturday, Le Monde reported Monday.

  • World
  • Tunisia
  • Anti-Semitism
  • Terrorism