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‘Jewish life goes on’: Djerba Jews and their supporters show resilience after deadly attack
(JTA) — The day after a gunman killed four people outside an ancient place of Jewish worship on the Tunisian island of Djerba, men gathered in the same synagogue not to mourn, but to celebrate.
They were there to witness the blessing of a new life: a brit milah, or ritual circumcision. Not long after, a recording of the ceremony, complete with the men chanting in Hebrew as they surrounded the eight-day-old baby, made its way to the phone of Isaac Choua, a Sephardic rabbi living in New York.
For Choua, watching the ceremony was a relief from the horrors that had emerged the day before, when a rogue security official at the Tunisian synagogue killed two Jewish cousins, Aviel Haddad, 30, and Benjamin Haddad, 43, as well as two security guards before being gunned down.
“Something beautiful happened,” said Choua, the Middle East and North Africa communities liaison for the World Jewish Congress, in an interview. “They had a brit milah in Djerba, even with all the chaos. Jewish life goes on.”
Tuesday’s deadly shooting came during the Hiloula, an annual pilgrimage and celebration of Jewish sages held on or around Lag b’Omer, which takes place a little more than a month after the beginning of Passover. The annual festivity attracts thousands of Jews from around the world, many of Tunisian descent. It is held at the El Ghriba synagogue — a 19th-century building constructed on a site believed to have been a Jewish house of worship for as long as 2,500 years.
The pilgrimage has grown substantially in recent years, after trepidation following an attack on the synagogue by Al-Qaeda in 2002 that killed 20 people, and a suspension of the pilgrimage in 2011 amid security concerns in the wake of the Arab Spring, which began in Tunisia.
The Tunisian government has invested in the pilgrimage, billing it as a symbol of the country’s tolerance, and has provided intense security. Last year, Tunisia was one of six African countries that signed the “Call of Rabat,” an initiative of the American Sephardi Federation that sought a commitment to preserving Jewish heritage on the continent.
Jason Guberman, the executive director of the American Sephardi Federation, said the numbers that the Hiloula attracts today have not yet reached the 10,000 or so who attended before the 2002 attack. The Arab Spring and COVID-19 pandemic, he said, “have also deterred pilgrims in the past decade.” He estimated that fewer than 5,000 people attend annually now.
Additionally, Tunisia’s authoritarian president Kais Saied remains unfriendly to Israel and has rebuffed efforts by successive American administrations to join the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries.
Djerba, nonetheless, remains an oasis of coexistence, said Yaniv Salama, the CEO of the Salamanca Foundation, which seeks to reinvigorate Jewish communities in Muslim lands.
”You have to understand something about Djerba,” Salama said. “The community there has very, very deep ties with the local municipalities. Everything is done in conjunction — there are joint [security] watches” between the Jewish and larger communities, “and joint communication between the Jewish community leaders and the local police.”
Jason Isaacson, the American Jewish Committee’s chief policy and political affairs officer, who has frequently visited Djerba, said it was significant that two Tunisian security officials died protecting the Jewish community.
“It’s obviously now going to be a source of shame for the country that this happened, within its own military forces, but this happens within military forces” everywhere, he said. “The fact that the country deploys a huge protective cordon around the synagogue and around the festivities and around the worshipers who come, to assure that it all goes off smoothly and proper in a celebratory spirit, is significant.”
Aaron Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank whose expertise is Islamist extremism in Tunisia, said the attack appeared to be an outlier, unlike the carefully planned 2002 attack.
“It wasn’t really a sophisticated attack,” Zelin said. “So it’s plausible it could have just been one person that just decided to do something on their own accord, and there wasn’t some broader plot or planning in the same way.”
Choua said the Tunisian Jewish Diaspora would not be deterred. “Jewish Tunisians are still going to either visit family [or] visit this pilgrimage site,” he said. “Jews are resilient.”
Djerba has the attention of the world, at least for the moment. The day before the attack Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. envoy monitoring antisemitism, alongside U.S. ambassador to Tunisia Joey Hood, joined Tunisian officials in a ceremony launching the Hiloula.
“I am sickened and heartbroken by the lethal, antisemitic attack targeting the Ghriba synagogue in Djerba during the Lag B’Omer celebrations, with thousands of Jewish pilgrims in attendance,” Lipstadt said on Twitter.
That may be the silver lining, the World Jewish Congress’s Choua said: The predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish Diaspora tends to forget the communities that persist outside the Western world.
“The Jewish world is noticing that there’s still Jews in the Middle East and North Africa,” he said. “This might even spark more tourism in the country itself.”
Salama said he did not expect the community of about 1,400 people, which includes a number of institutes of religious learning, to be broken following the attack.
“They’re all they’ll do their grieving and they’ll continue, they’ll push forward,” he said. “They really have got a stiff upper lip.”
Robert Ejnes, the executive director of CRIF, the umbrella body for French Jewry, said the French Jewish community is close to the Tunisian Jewish community because France colonized the country beginning in the 1800s, and because the community speaks French. He said that the Hiloula attracts French Jews of all ethnic origins.
“It’s really affecting the whole of the community of France because on the Hiloula, there are a lot of people going [from] the French Jewish community of all origins,” he said.
Ejnes found it notable that even after the attack, French Jews who attended the Hiloula posted photos of the festivities on social media. He said he expected the same number of people to attend next year’s Hiloula.
“People will be resilient,” he said. “They posted pictures of them[selves] at the Ghriba, saying, ‘We’ll be back.’”
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US House Committee Announces K-12 Antisemitism Investigations in Democrat Strongholds
People take part in anti-Israel protest in Fairfax County, Virginia, US, Nov. 24, 2023. Photo: Leah Millis via Reuters Connect
The US House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Monday disclosed a triad of K-12 antisemitism investigations at school districts in California, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Among the cases, Virginia’s stands out for being based in the heavily progressive stronghold of Fairfax County, which former US Vice President Kamala Harris (D) carried by 35 points in 2024 and Abigail Spanberger, the Commonwealth’s new Democratic governor-elect, won by a similar margin in this year’s gubernatorial race. According to the House committee’s chairman, the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) district spills over with antisemitic incidents.
“FCPS experienced significant antisemitic incidents even prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks against Israel. Jewish students allegedly faced repeated antisemitic bullying, including other students making the ‘Heil Hitler’ salute and throwing coins at them,” US Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) said in a letter to the district. “Another school for years allegedly refused to remove a hallway display that included painted tiles, 40 percent of which featured swastikas and Nazi flags.”
He added, “Just prior to the Oct. 7 attacks, one high school’s Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) hosted a speaker who had made grotesque antisemitic statements. For example, he had tweeted, ‘I’m not racist I love everyone. Except the yahood [Jews],’ and ‘Never met a Jew who didn’t have a huge nose.’”
Across the country, in California, which has not allotted its electoral votes to a Republican presidential candidate since 1988, the Berkeley Unified School District, an array of alleged antisemitic incidents included students chanting “Kill the Jews” to protest Israel and a teacher displaying an image of the Star of David being pummeled by a fist in the classroom.
“In another concerning incident, at Malcolm X Elementary School, a second-grade teacher told her students to write ‘messages of anti-hate’ for display,” Walberg continued in another missive to BUSD’s superintendent. “Several students followed the teacher’s lead and wrote ‘stop bombing babies.’ However, rather than displaying the message in the hall outside of her classroom, the teacher allegedly placed them outside of the classroom of the school’s sole Jewish teacher.”
The School District of Philadelphia (SDP), based in a city which has awarded the Democratic Party no less than 77 percent of its voters in presidential contests since 1996, is also seeing troubling trends, according to Walberg, a Republican.
“Today, SDP employs numerous educators who allegedly promote antisemitic content in their classrooms,” the chairman explained in his letter to the district. “One such teacher has allegedly threatened Jewish parents and students alone. She and other Philadelphia educators also allegedly use lessons from an effort called Teaching Palestine, whose class materials rationalize terrorist violence and advocate for the destruction of Israel.”
Antisemitism in K-12 schools has increased every year of this decade, according to data compiled by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In 2023, antisemitic incidents in US public schools increased 135 percent, a figure which included a rise in vandalism and assault.
The problem has led to civil rights complaints and lawsuits.
In September 2023, for example, some of America’s most prominent Jewish and civil rights groups sued the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) in California for concealing from the public its adoption of ethnic studies curricula containing antisemitic and anti-Zionist themes. Then in February, the school district paused implementation of the program to settle the lawsuit.
One month later, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, StandWithUs, and the ADL filed a civil rights complaint accusing the Etiwanda School District in San Bernardino County, California, of doing nothing after a 12-year-old Jewish girl was assaulted, having been beaten with stick, on school grounds and teased with jokes about Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
As The Algemeiner has reported previously, the North American Values Institute (NAVI) also raised alarms about rising antisemitism when the Wissahickon School District (WSD) in Ambler, Pennsylvania presented as fact an anti-Zionist account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to its K-12 students by using it as the basis for courses taken by honors students.
The material, provided by virtual learning platform Edgenuity, implied that Israel is a settler-colonial state — a false assertion promoted by neo-Nazis and jihadist terror groups — while referring to the founding of Israel as the “nakba,” the Arabic term for “catastrophe” used by Palestinians and anti-Israel activists. Based on documents shared with The Algemeiner, the material does not seemingly detail the varied reasons for Palestinian Arabs leaving the nascent State of Israel at the time, including that they were encouraged by Arab leaders to flee their homes to make way for the invading Arab armies. Nor does it appear to explain that some 850,000 Jews were forced to flee or expelled from Middle Eastern and North African countries in the 20th century, especially in the aftermath of Israel’s declaring independence.
“College campus antisemitism has gotten a lot of attention because we see the effects, the protests, the barricades, and encampments,” Gerard Filitti, senior counsel of End Jew Hatred and The Lawfare Project, told The Algemeiner in September during an interview. “In K-12, it’s not as flagrant. It’s educational material that’s talked about in the classroom and which parents may not be aware of unless they talk with their children about what’s happening in school. So, this has essentially been a secret issue because the American people are not aware of what children are learning in schools or how schools have been handling antisemitism in school.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Miss Universe Israel’s Team Reveals National Costume Was Stolen Before Debut at 2025 Pageant in Bangkok
Melanie Shiraz of Israel takes part in the National Costume show during the 74th Miss Universe pageant in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Miss Israel Melanie Shiraz had her national costume stolen shortly before she was set to debut the look in the Miss Universe 2025 pageant, her team revealed on Tuesday.
The Miss Universe competition concluded in Bangkok, Thailand, on Nov. 21 with Fátima Bosch from Mexico being crowned Miss Universe from a group of contestants representing more than 130 nations around the world. The first runner-up was Thailand’s Praveenar Singh followed by Venezuela’s Stephany Abasali as second runner-up.
Shiraz, 27, had designed the outfit she was set to wear for the national costume segment of the Miss Universe competition. Edgar Saakyan, national director of Miss Universe Israel, said in a released statement on Tuesday that a day and a half before Shiraz was set to take the stage in the national costume portion of the competition, the Miss Israel team was “misled by the costume constructor’s team, and the national costume was stolen.”
“A representative of the costume constructor arrived at the Bangkok airport under the pretext of ‘clarifying details,’ approached a member of our team, took the costume, and then stopped all communication – effectively stealing it and placing us in an extremely difficult position,” Saakyan explained. “We regard this as a deliberate act of harm, including damage to our intellectual property and reputation … This matter has been transferred to our legal team.”
Saakyan added that ultimately, a team of Thai costume makers made Shiraz a new look, based on her original concept, with only 10 hours left before the national costume segment of the Miss Universe contest. The costume was completed with “incredible support” from the Miss Universe and Miss Grand International teams, he said.
“This display of professionalism, grace under pressure, and human solidarity allowed us not only to take the stage – but to do so with honor, pride, and respect for the flag,” Saakyan noted. “We are grateful beyond words.”
Shiraz ended up wearing in the national costume segment a yellow floor length gown that also featured a yellow ribbon in honor of the murdered hostages still held in captivity and the former hostages who have returned home after being abducted by Hamas-led terrorists during their deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. A crystal Star of David was displayed on her dress, and its train was adorned with red anemones, which is Israel’s national flower and also commonly found in southern Israel where the Oct. 7 attack took place. Shiraz paired the dress with a shawl and head covering. The costume was titled “The Light of Hope.”
“While many national costumes are joyful and celebratory, this year’s theme of peace, combined with all that our people have endured over the past two years, called for a more somber presence on stage,” Shiraz said in an Instagram post. “One that carries both remembrance and the hope for a more peaceful future. I designed this piece to honor our story, our grief, and the light we continue to hold onto. I couldn’t be more proud [sic] to wear it.”
Saakyan announced in his statement on Tuesday that next year, Shiraz will be the official national costume designer for Miss Israel. “We are confined this partnership will deliver not just visual beauty, but a meaningful cultural message to the world,” he said.
Miss Palestine Nadine Ayoub sparked controversy when she took the stage during the national costume segment of the Miss Universe competition wearing a robe that depicted the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, alongside olive branches. Earlier in the competition, Ayoub uploaded a series of posts on social media that included lies about the Israel-Hamas war, such as one that inflated the number of Palestinian casualties and another that described Kfir and Ariel Bibas, the Israeli children murdered in Hamas captivity, as Palestinian victims of the war instead of victims of Hamas terrorism. Ayoub was the first-ever “Miss Palestine” contestant in the Miss Universe pageant.
After the New York Post revealed that Ayoub was married to the son of notorious Fatah terrorist Marwan Barghouti and even named a child after him, Shiraz called on Miss Universe organizers to strip Miss Palestine of her place in the top 30. “Miss Universe should not condone fraud, violations of its code of conduct and especially terror. I expect them to take corrective action,” Shiraz told the Post on Saturday. “I don’t need to act as the moral CEO of Miss Universe – they should be able to do that themselves.”
“It makes my skin crawl thinking we were in the same room so many times,” added Shiraz. “It’s shocking that we all shared a stage with someone with serious terror ties.”
Following the Miss Universe 2025 competition, Brigitta Schaback renounced her title of Miss Universe Estonia and Olivia Yacé, the pageant’s fourth runner-up, renounced her title as Miss Universe Africa and Oceania.
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New York City Mayor Adams Announces New $3 Million Holocaust Memorial
New York City Mayor Eric Adams meeting with Israelis during a reception in Jerusalem that was organized by the Combat Antisemitism Movement. Photo: Combat Antisemitism Movement’s X account
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Tuesday the planned creation of a $3 million Holocaust memorial to commemorate the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis in World War II as well as the survivors who rebuilt their lives in New York City.
The “Queens Holocaust Memorial” will be located on the grounds of the Queens Borough Hall and include artwork as well as a commemorative garden. The process of selecting an artist for the memorial will be led by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs’ “Percent for Art“ program in discussion with artists, historians, and Holocaust survivors.
The Queens Jewish Community Council, in partnership with local civic and faith leaders, originally proposed the idea for the memorial. The city and Office of Queens Borough President Donovan Richard Jr. allocated $3 million to support the development of the project, but the Queens Jewish Community Council will help raise additional funds to support the memorial’s design and construction.
A total of 14,700 Holocaust survivors live in New York, which is 50 percent of all survivors in the US, according to the UJA Federation New York. The new memorial will be the first major tribute to the Holocaust in the borough of Queens, which is where many Holocaust survivors settled when they moved to New York after World War II. The site will serve as a hosting ground for Holocaust remembrance ceremonies, educational programs for students, and community gatherings to promote solidarity across communities.
“It is not enough to say, ‘Never again’ — we have to live it with our actions too,” Adams said in a released statement. “By preserving the stories of both victims and survivors, by creating a permanent space for remembrance and reflection, by promoting understanding and solidarity across generations, this memorial will live out the meaning of ‘never again.’ As our city and our country confront the rising tide of antisemitism, our administration will not remain silent. We will use our office to call out hate wherever we find it, encourage compassion wherever we need it, and create a city where everyone can live side by side in harmony.”
Adams announced the creation of the memorial alongside Richard Jr. The latter said the Queens Holocaust Memorial “will not only pay a touching tribute to the six million innocent Jews murdered by the Nazis and the survivors who settled in our borough afterward, but it will also serve as daily inspiration for our fight to forge a future free of antisemitism.”
“No matter how much time passes since the evils of the Holocaust, New York City’s commitment to the pledge of ‘Never Again’ must never waver,” he added. “That is why, in the face of rising tides of heinous antisemitism and Holocaust denial across our society, I could not be prouder to lead this effort alongside the administration and the Queens’ Jewish community in creating this critically important memorial here at Queens Borough Hall.”
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who was elected earlier this month, will take office and replace Adams in January. Adams recently expressed concern for the safety of Jewish communities in New York under Mamdani’s leadership.
Leading members of the Jewish community in New York have also raised alarm bells about Mamdani’s victory in the mayoral election.
During his four years in office, Adams created the first mayor’s office dedicated to combating antisemitism; signed an executive order adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism; created the city’s first Jewish Advisory Council; and launched the New York City-Israel Economic Council.