REPORTS OF ANTI-SEMITIC STUDENT DEMONSTRATION IN

UNCLAS TUNIS 000669

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

NEA/MAG FOR LAWRENCE
PARIS FOR ZEYA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KPAO TS
SUBJECT: REPORTS OF ANTI-SEMITIC STUDENT DEMONSTRATION IN
TUNIS


1. (SBU) Summary: According to press reports and
eyewitnesses, On March 10, approximately 100 students shouted
anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slogans during a demonstration
at Manouba University in Tunis at a ceremony marking the
donation of books from the library of the late Jewish
Tunisian historian Paul Sebag. The students briefly
prevented the ceremony from proceeding, but university
authorities reportedly effectively contained the small
demonstration. While the events at Manouba were troubling,
the sentiments expressed are likely those of only a small
number of overzealous students. The majority of Tunisians
draw a clear line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, as
demonstrated by a communique from the Tunisian Human Rights
League and a statement by the Manouba Student Union, both
condemning the slogans and behavior at the Manouba
demonstration. End Summary


2. (SBU) According to March 16 article in French newspaper
Liberation, as well as university contacts, approximately 100
students demonstrated before and after a ceremony marking the
donation of part of the personal library of Paul Sebag, a
noted Tunisian Jewish historian and sociologist who died in

2004. Sebag's daughter, as well as French historian and
President of the Society of the History of Jews in Tunisia,
Claude Nataf, were present at the ceremony, presided by
authorities from the Faculty of Letters at the University of
Manouba. Upon attempting to enter the site of the ceremony,
the party was met by approximately 100 students chanting
anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slogans. Liberation reported
that these slogans, said in Arabic, included: "Down with
Israel", "Long live Palestine and Hamas", "No normalization
with Israel" and "The Jews to the Sea". (NB: A French
cultural attache who was present at the event reported that
students also chanted some anti-Tunisian regime slogans).


3. (SBU) Students reportedly tried to physically prevent the
invitees from entering the facility, at which point
professors formed a human chain to separate the invitees from
the demonstrating students. Eventually all invitees were
able to enter the facility and the ceremony was held.
Students reportedly continued the demonstrations upon the
exit of the invitees and event organizers. According to the
Liberation article and eyewitnesses, there were no police
present during the demonstration. An unnamed GOT official
told Liberation that Tunisian police "can not enter
university campuses." In the wake of the event, the
University of Manouba Student Union met and, according to
university faculty, sided with university deans in condemning
the demonstrations as "irresponsible." The Tunisian Human
Rights League also released a statement strongly denouncing
the demonstration and the "racist attacks which dishonored
our students and our university, and which represent an
attack on human valor." The LTDH communique also described
the linkage between Zionism and Judaism as "inadmissible", "a
disservice to the cause of the Palestinian people", and the
"essential base of Zionist thought".


4. (SBU) Comment: Professors at the University of Manouba
were concerned by the physical nature of the demonstration,
noting that student rallies and demonstrations do occur but
are generally peaceful. Other student contacts report
sporadic incidences of violence during campus demonstrations,
citing rocks thrown through university building windows as a
common tactic of only "a few troublemakers among an otherwise
peaceful group of students." One professor described "the
deep confusion in the minds of students about the difference
between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism." Indeed, a majority
of Tunisians would concur with the LTDH communique, and draw
a clear line between condemning Israel and defending
Tunisia's small, but notable Jewish population.
HUDSON