The Tunisian President Can Condemn an Attack on a Synagogue, but He Won’t Say the Word “Jew”

While most of Tunisia’s Jews left the country during the 1950s and 60s, roughly 1,000 remain on the island of Djerba, which boasts a historic synagogue and a community with its own traditions, living under the protection of the government. The synagogue continues to attract a large wave of pilgrims from abroad on the holiday of Lag ba’Omer, which this year fell last Tuesday. A member of the Tunisian national guard chose the festive occasion to open fire on a crowd outside the synagogue, killing two Jews and three security personnel. Ben Cohen examines how the country’s regime has responded: