Candelight Tribute Held in Tunis for Jew Murdered in Paris
Scores of people paid tribute on Saturday in the Tunisian capital to Yoav Hattab, the son of a Tunis rabbi murdered in last week's jihadist attack on a Paris kosher supermarket.
Gathered outside Tunis's Grand Synagogue, around 150 people carried candles and pictures of Hattab, placing them between two Tunisian flags.
Hattab, 21, had been in France studying international business, when he and three other Jews taken hostage in the supermarket were murdered by jihadist gunman Amedy Coulibaly.
Witnesses said he died trying to fight back against Coulibaly with one of the assailant's guns.
Hattab was well known among the Jewish community of 1,500 in Tunisia where his rabbi father runs the capital's Jewish school.
He and the other three victims were buried in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
One of those at the candlelight vigil was Besima Boughneya, who said: "I am here as a citizen, because he was a Tunisian and this has broken my heart."
Sion Cohen from the southern island of Djerba where most of the predominantly Muslim country's 1,500 Jews live, said: "This gathering shows Tunisia brings everyone together. As far as I know, this is the first demonstration of its kind in solidarity with Jews every held" in the country.
But while the moderate Islamist movement Ennahda, which had previously been in power, has expressed its condolences to Hattab's family, there has been no official comment.
"That is a disgrace," said Erij Bodhief, a 23-year-old student.
"I am a Muslim and I came. He was a child of Tunisia. What sort of message are the authorities sending to the Jews of Tunisia by not talking about this?"
Source: Agence France Presse
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