Further details of the attack upon the Jewish quarter of Sfax, Tunis on July 25th are revealed by the “Reveil Juif”, a Jewish paper appearing in Tunisia which has reached London.
“It appeared to start with nothing at all”, writes the paper.
It began with a petty quarrel with the brothers Didi, Jewish merchants of Souk, well-to-do men, known and respected by the whole population, who have been established for years in the Arab village. One of their former workmen — it was not, as was at first wrongly reported, a customer or someone wanting to borrow money — came to claim his wages. There was an altercation, and then shouting. The Arab had knocked himself against a glass door, and had cut himself; some say intentionally, others say it was an accident. Whether the one or the other blood flowed, and he went off shouting that the Didis had tried to cut his throat. Instantly, as if they had been waiting for the signal — the authorities, it seems, are quite definite about that point — thousands of dockers, Bedouins, and phosphate workers, rushed up to the Didis shop and wanted to lynch the brothers. The shop was barricaded and the police were telephoned for. The crowd grew denser. At last the police arrived, and the only way in which they could save the people inside was to handcuff them as prisoners, and lead them out of the Arab village amid hostile cries and a shower of rotten fruit.
It seemed to be over, says the paper.
But soon, incited by their leaders, of whom the principals are known and many of whom, unfortunately, are wellknown Moslems, no longer young people either, the mob rushed to the quarter where the jewellers live, overpowering them, small dealers and workmen, and laid about them savagely, beating, robbing and burning. But for the intervention of a member of the City Corporation, a Moslem, it is impossible to say what might have happened. Many Jews were wounded. Those whose names are known are Deid Azria, Houtaou Berdah, Joseph Sebagh, Binhas Ankra, Jacob Ankra, Makhlouf Cohen, Issac Cohen.
The Arab Governor then arrived with his Spahis from Oudjak. He deserves our thanks. He tried to calm the excited crowd, dwelling on the good relations which had existed between Arabs and Jews. But he was not listened to. He finally had to send the jewellers to his own house, escorted for their protection of his Spahis, thus leaving the rioters free to continue pillaging.
The mob then descended upon the European town, attacking all Jews they met on the way, wounding Rene Abbou, Moise Bouhnik, Khamous Cohen, Meyer Cohen, Isaac Naim, Moche Djerbi, Bouqhris, and many others, whose names are not known. We are told that even a Jewish doctor who attended the Didis’ workman, whose injury in falling against the glass door, started all the trouble, was hit.
The Jewish quarter was in a panic. The mob tried to break into the Great Synagogue, but it was barricaded, and all the children attending the adjacent Hebrew school ran for their lives. The mob smashed everything in sight. The old Rabbi was attacked and seriously wounded.
The Jewish self-defense then came into action, a handful of men, trying to beat back the infuriated mob. The self-defense was outnumbered. At this moment — it was 4 o’clock in the afternoon and the rioting had gone on since morning — the civil authorities decided to call out the troops. French Spahis and Sengalese charged the mob. The rioters were driven back and the sol
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
