SPECIAL ENVOY RICKMAN HEARS FROM GOT THAT TUNISIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000107

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA/MAG FOR HARRIS, HOPKINS
DRL/SEAS FOR RICKMAN, STEVENS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KMPI TS
SUBJECT: SPECIAL ENVOY RICKMAN HEARS FROM GOT THAT TUNISIA
IS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM PARADISE, BUT SOME JEWISH CITIZENS
DIFFER...PRIVATELY

REF: A. 06 TUNIS 1305


B. 06 TUNIS 669

Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec for Reasons 1.4 b & d

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Summary
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1. (C) During a December visit to Tunisia by Special Envoy to
Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism Gregg Rickman, GOT
interlocutors claimed that there was "absolutely no problem"
of anti-Semitism in Tunisia, and that Tunisia's small Jewish
community lived in "perfect harmony" with Tunisian Muslims.
However, a Tunisian Jew on the island of Djerba, home to the
majority of Tunisia's Jewish population, complained that in
fact anti-Semitism was present, if subdued, in Tunisia, and
flared up in conjunction with negative developments in
Israel/Palestine. He, like all Tunisian Jews, praised the
GOT's protection of their community, citing it as the major
reason that anti-Semitism did not manifest itself in physical
violence against the Jewish community. End Summary.


2. (U) Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism
Gregg Rickman visited Tunisia from December 11-14. Tunisia
has a small community of approximately 1,500 Tunisian Jews.
One-third lives in and around Tunis while the remainder lives
on the island of Djerba where the Jewish community dates back
2,500 years (Ref A). The GOT allows the Jewish community
freedom of worship and pays the salary of the Grand Rabbi.
It also provides security for all synagogues and for the
Jewish neighborhoods on Djerba.

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GOT: "There Are No Problems"
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3. (C) In separate meetings on December 12 with the Minister
of Religious Affairs, the MFA, and members of Parliament,
including Jewish community leader Roger Bismuth, the GOT
presented a united front on Tunisia's record of religious
tolerance. All interlocutors described the Tunisian model as
a shining example of how a minority religious community was
supported and protected by government policies. The Minister
of Religious Affairs, El Akhzouri, stating a talking point
heard throughout the day, said "Tunisian Jews are Tunisians
first, Jewish second." Another oft-repeated soundbite heard
from GOT officials was: "We shouldn't speak of tolerance, we
should speak of acceptance." While recognizing some isolated
incidents (Ref B),Tunisian officials denied that
anti-Semitism was a significant problem in Tunisia.


4. (C) With few exceptions, GOT officials were reluctant to
discuss specific issues facing the Jewish community, and
denied that any problems existed. Hassine Fantar, a
university professor and head of the Ben Ali Chair for
Inter-religious Dialogue, did note that he was looking into
including references to Tunisian Jews in school textbooks, a
subject that to date has not been taught in Tunisian public
schools. While all interlocutors were open and supportive of
a proposal from Rickman to participate in or host an
international conference on religious tolerance, Fantar was
particularly engaged by the idea, and promised to be in
further contact. NOTE: Fantar has arranged several such
conferences in the past. END NOTE.

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Jewish Community in Djerba: "Of Course There Are Problems"
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5. (U) On December 13, Rickman traveled to the southern
island of Djerba, home to the vast majority of Jews living in
Tunisia. On Djerba, approximately 1,000 Jews live in three
separate communities, with their own schools, markets, and
synagogues. Although there are some Jews and Muslims living
side by side, the majority of Jews on Djerba live in their
own neighborhoods. Since the Djerba bombing in April 2002,
the GOT has established police checkpoints at all entrances
and exits of these areas.


6. (C) In Djerba, members of the community, including the
community president and the Grand Rabbi of Tunisia, picked up
where the GOT interlocutors left off the previous day,
extolling the virtuous religious policies of President Ben
Ali, and repeating throughout the day that "there are no
problems." The President of the Djerba Jewish community,
Youssef Uzan, nervously intimated to PolFSN that things were
not as perfect as everyone said, but would say nothing more.


"You may come and go, but we have to stay here and deal with
(the GOT) when you are gone," he said, explaining why he did
not want to complain about community problems to a foreign
visitor. Throughout the day, Uzan had to constantly report
on the delegation's whereabouts to GOT authorities (who were
tailing the group everywhere in any case),and had to set an
extra place when a local GOT official entered uninvited to a
lunch prepared by the Jewish community for the visiting
delegation.


7. (C) One community member, a jeweler named Khalifa Haddad
(protect),however, quietly told poloff "of course we have
problems." While emphasizing that the GOT should be
commended for its protection of the community, he said it was
"ridiculous to claim that everything was perfect." He spoke
at length, and with as much caution as if he were disclosing
a state secret, of a long-standing dispute, dating back ten
years, with the former community president. The president
had received, in the name of the community, a significant
donation from the widow of a Tunisian Jew. This former
president had misappropriated the funds, and when the
community tried to install a new president, the matter went
to court. According to the Haddad, the court only recognized
the former president since only his name was listed on papers
establishing the Jewish association. Haddad told poloff that
to officially replace him and gain control of the widow's
donation, the community would have to create a new
association, but that Tunisia's restrictive law on
associations prevented this. Haddad said the former
president left Djerba, and was currently living in "a
million-dollar" apartment in Tunis, where he enjoyed
high-level connections in the GOT.


8. (C) Haddad also mentioned several periods of tension
between the Djerban Jews and their Muslim counterparts. He
said that in the early eighties, during a time of increased
tension in the Levant, members of the Jewish community were
the targets of physical and verbal assault, causing many
members of the community to emigrate. He said that this had
stopped with Ben Ali's accession to power in 1987, and the
protective policies the GOT employed towards the Jewish
community. Haddad said that the Muslim community now knew
that the GOT had made it clear that any assault on the Jewish
community would meet severe retribution, as the GOT benefited
greatly from "showing the world" Tunisia's Jewish community.
Haddad quickly noted that, absent this tacit threat, as well
as the tangible measures of protection, he feared he and his
fellow Jews would "again be stoned in the street." While GOT
officials emphasized that in Djerba, Muslims and Jews live in
harmony side by side, Haddad said that in fact the Jewish
community largely keeps to itself. Outside of Djerba, he
said, contact with Tunisian Muslims is limited only to
business transactions. "Sometimes in the past there has been
greater contact, but it always turns out badly. When a Jewish
boy wants to marry a Muslim girl, it can create major
problems," he said. While claiming to be an optimist, he
conceded that that he felt some pressure to emigrate. He
recalled that in the eighties as a young man, he had urged
his parents to join the thousands of Tunisian Jews that were
fleeing, but that now, with six chidren of his own, he found
the roles reversed: his roots were firmly in Djerba, and he
feared the social upheaval emigration would entail.

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Comment
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9. (C) The trip to Djerba again revealed the tacit contract
between the Jewish community and the GOT, which in turn for
support, security and tolerant policies on religion receives
the firm allegiance of the community. The GOT in turn
trumpets Tunisia's minute Jewish community internationally as
a shining example of its moderate and progressive social
policies. An additional aspect of this unwritten contract is
that the Jewish community must present itself as not just
content, but perfectly happy, and suffering from no problems
whatsoever. The incredulity of this claim seems to be lost
on the GOT, if not on members of the Djerba community. While
the survival of Tunisia's Jewish community is overall a
success story, this atmosphere of complete dependence on the
GOT is another example of the GOT's compulsion to control
nearly all aspects of Tunisian society. The GOT claim that
everything is perfect with Tunisian Jews echoes
GOT-controlled newspapers' fawning headlines about GOT
policies, and Haddad's comments about a lack of freedom of
association parallel similar complaints from Tunisian civil
society activists. The difference is, in a small commmunity,
far from the capital city, GOT control is even more


dominating, and Jewish community members are tremendously
cautious about complaining. End Comment.


10. (U) This cable has been cleared by Special Envoy Gregg
Rickman.



GODEC