The Israeli government adopts funding package to help Tunisian Jews move to Israel in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution. Tunisian authorities express “great regret” over the proposal, slamming Israel’s “interference” and “malicious call”. “We are Tunisians above all, and we do not have any problems. We live like everyone else, and no Jew is going to leave the country,” says the head of Djerba’s Jewish community.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Tunisian Jews say no thanks to Israel’s invitation to leave the country that sparked the ‘Jasmine Revolution’. On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved a package of funding to help Tunisian Jews move to Israel, citing "the worsening of the Tunisian authorities' and society's attitude toward the Jewish community, as well as the difficult economic situation that has been created in the country since the revolution."

Tunisia’s Foreign Ministry reacted immediately to the proposal, slamming what it called Israeli “interference” in its internal affairs. The ministry expressed "great regret" over what it described as "a malicious call to Tunisian citizens to immigrate to Israel in an attempt to damage the image of Tunisia after the revolution.”

"Tunisia is outraged by the statements” from “a country which still denies the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland, shamefully defying international law," the statement said.

Israel’s offer also prompted the leader of the Jewish community in Tunisia to criticise the Israeli government. "No Jew is going to leave the country,” he said.

Michael Jankelowitz, spokesman for the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency responsible for Jewish immigration to Israel, said on Tuesday that since the uprising began in December, only 16 immigrants arrived from Tunisia.

Perez Trabelsi, president of the Jewish community on Djerba, said, "Israeli officials have received false information about our situation. We are Tunisians above all, and we do not have any problems. We live like everyone else, and no Jew is going to leave the country.”

The Jewish community in Tunisia is still one of the largest in the Arab world but its numbers have dropped from 100,000 in 1956, when it won independence from France, to around 1,500 today. Most Tunisian Jews left for France or Israel.

• israel
• tunisia
• jews
• emigration
• jasmine
• revolution