El Hamma synagogue

Last updated

El Hamma synagogue was a historic non-functioning synagogue in El Hamma, Tunisia. It was heavily damaged by rioters during pro-Palestine protests surrounding the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.

History

By 2023, the synagogue was no longer an active house of worship, as there were no longer Jews in El Hamma. As the burial site of 16th century Kabbalist rabbi Yosef Ma'arawi, the synagogue was historically a Jewish pilgrimage site. [1]

In recent years, the synagogue was the target of antisemitic attacks. In March 2011 during the Arab Spring, the synagogue's entry gate, guard house, a Torah scroll were damaged in an arson attack. [2]

During pro-Palestine protests on 17 October 2023 during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, hundreds of rioters set fire to the synagogue building, hammered away the building's walls, and planted Palestinian flags at the site. Police did not intervene. [1]

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency described the 2023 riot as depriving "Al Hammah of a key vestige of its Jewish past." The 2023 attack came five months after a mass shooting at the El Ghriba Synagogue, also in Tunisia. [1] Activist Rafram Chaddad  [ he ] told Al-Monitor that "In every event that Palestinians get killed, the Jews of Tunisia get attacked in turn. It’s a ritual." Tunisian President Kais Saied called an emergency session of Parliament after the attack, but did not condemn the attack on the synagogue. [3]

Related Research Articles

An intifada is a rebellion or uprising, or a resistance movement. It is a key concept in contemporary Arabic usage referring to a uprising against oppression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli–Palestinian conflict</span> Ongoing military and political conflict in the Levant

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict in the Levant. Beginning in the mid-20th century, it is one of the world's longest-continuing conflicts. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other efforts to resolve the broader Arab–Israeli conflict. Public declarations of the desire to see a Jewish homeland established in Palestine, including the First Zionist Congress of 1897 and the Balfour Declaration of 1917, created early tensions in the region after waves of Jewish immigration. Following World War I, the Mandate for Palestine included a binding obligation for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". Tensions grew into open sectarian conflict between Jews and Arabs. The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was never implemented and provoked the 1947–1949 Palestine War. The current Israeli-Palestinian status quo began following Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, known as the Palestinian territories, in the 1967 Six-Day War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict</span>

The history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict traces back to the late 19th century when Zionists sought to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in Ottoman-controlled Palestine, a region roughly corresponding to the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition. The Balfour Declaration of 1917, issued by the British government, endorsed the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which led to an influx of Jewish immigrants to the region. Following World War II and the Holocaust, international pressure mounted for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, leading to the creation of Israel in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Voice for Peace</span> American anti-Zionist activist group

Jewish Voice for Peace is an anti-Zionist left-wing Jewish activist organization in the United States that supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestinian political violence</span> Violence with political ends in the State of Palestine

Palestinian political violence refers to actions carried out by Palestinians with the intent to achieve political objectives that can involve the use of force, some of which are considered acts of terror, and often done in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Common objectives of political violence by Palestinian nationalists include self-determination in and sovereignty over Palestine, or the "liberation of Palestine" and recognition of a Palestinian state, either in place of both Israel and the Palestinian territories, or solely in the Palestinian territories. Some perpetrators of these acts support the dismantling of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Arab state. More limited goals include the release of Palestinian prisoners or the Palestinian right of return. Other motivations include personal grievances, trauma or revenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in the State of Palestine</span> State of human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

The state of human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip characterizes the State of Palestine as an authoritarian regime according to The Economist Democracy Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arab–Israeli conflict</span> Geopolitical conflict in the Middle East and North Africa

The Arab–Israeli conflict is the phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between various Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century. The roots of the Arab–Israeli conflict have been attributed to the support by Arab League member countries for the Palestinians, a fellow League member, in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict; this in turn has been attributed to the simultaneous rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism towards the end of the 19th century, though the two national movements had not clashed until the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Mosque of Gaza</span> Mosque in Gaza Strip, Palestine

The Great Mosque of Gaza, also known as the Great Omari Mosque, was the largest and oldest mosque in the Gaza Strip, located in Gaza's old city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 Paris synagogue bombing</span> Antisemitic terrorist attack in France

On 3 October 1980, a bomb exploded outside the Rue Copernic synagogue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France, during Shabbat services. Approximately 320 worshippers were inside the synagogue when the bomb went off outside, killing four people and wounding 46. It was the first deadly attack against Jews in France since the end of the Second World War.

Antisemitic incidents escalated worldwide in frequency and intensity during the Gaza War, and were widely considered to be a wave of reprisal attacks in response to the conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine</span> Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary socialist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization, the largest being Fatah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Gaza War</span> Armed conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants

The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge, and Battle of the Withered Grain was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that has been governed by Hamas since 2007. Following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank by Hamas-affiliated Palestinian militants, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initiated Operation Brother's Keeper, in which some 350 Palestinians, including nearly all of the active Hamas militants in the West Bank, were arrested. Hamas subsequently fired a greater number of rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, triggering a seven-week-long conflict between the two sides. It was one of the deadliest outbreaks of open conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in decades. The combination of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes resulted in over two thousand deaths, the vast majority of which were Gazan Palestinians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International reactions to the 2014 Gaza War</span>

Reactions to the 2014 Gaza War came from around the world.

Khaybar Khaybar ya yahud, jaish Muhammad soufa ya'oud is an Islamic chant in Arabic that references the 7th century Battle of Khaybar, in which Muslim forces led by Muhammad defeated the Jews of the Khaybar oasis, in present-day Saudi Arabia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Israel–Palestine crisis</span> Part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

A major outbreak of violence in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict commenced on 10 May 2021, though disturbances took place earlier, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. It was marked by protests and police riot control, rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. The crisis was triggered on 6 May, when Palestinians in East Jerusalem began protesting over an anticipated decision of the Supreme Court of Israel on the eviction of six Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Under international law, the area, effectively annexed by Israel in 1980, is a part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank; On 7 May, according to Israel's Channel 12, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli police forces, who then stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound using tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades. The crisis prompted protests around the world as well as official reactions from world leaders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Israel–Hamas war protests</span> Protests relating to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas

The 2023 Israel–Hamas war sparked protests, demonstrations, and vigils around the world. These events focused on a variety of issues related to the conflict, including demands for a ceasefire, an end to the blockade, returning Israeli hostages, protesting war crimes, and providing humanitarian aid to Gaza. Protests against Israeli action in Gaza were notably large across the Middle East and North Africa, particularly following the al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion. Since the war began on 7 October, the number of dead has exceeded 16,000.

Since 7 October 2023, numerous violent incidents prompted by the Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing Israel–Hamas war have been reported worldwide. They have accompanied a sharp increase in global antisemitism and Islamophobia, as well as anti-Israeli sentiment and anti-Palestinian sentiment or broader anti-Arab sentiment. Other people and groups have also been targeted, such as the Sikhs, who are commonly mistaken to be Muslims by their attackers.

Following the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the outbreak of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, there has been a surge of antisemitism around the world. Israeli Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer has stated that Israel is bracing to expect a large wave of Jews migrating to Israel due to the rising antisemitism around the world.

Within Our Lifetime (WOL), is a Palestinian-led pro-Palestinian community activist group, primarily active in New York City. WOL expressed support for the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and was one of the most active pro-Palestine protest organizers during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.

Antisemitism in New Zealand is the manifestation of hostility, prejudice or discrimination against the New Zealand Jewish people or Judaism as a religious, ethnic or racial group. This form of racism has affected Jews since New Zealand's Jewish community was established in the 19th century.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lapin, Andrew (2023-10-18). "Historic synagogue in Tunisia heavily damaged in rioting tied to Israel-Gaza war". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  2. Axelrod, Toby (2011-03-06). "Tunisian Jews reportedly embrace revolution, don't fear Islamism". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  3. Zaman, Amberin (2023-10-20). "Tunisia's Jews on edge after crowd torches synagogue amid Gaza protests". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 23 October 2023.