By Kevin Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
JERUSALEM, Israel – Tel Aviv District Court has ordered the Israeli Finance Ministry to compensate Tunisian-born Israeli Jews who suffered under Nazi occupation during World War II. After five years of litigation, 19 claimants have finally prevailed over the ministry who has refused to pay Tunisian Jews the same Israeli government stipends as European survivors of the Holocaust. Approximately 20,000 Tunisian Jews are now entitled to claim the monthly benefits of roughly $330.
German troops occupied Tunisia between November 1942 and May 1943. During the six month occupation, around 5,000 Jews were rounded up and were subjected to forced labor, and at least 20 Jewish activists were sent to extermination camps in Europe. Jews were also forced to wear infamous “yellow star” on their clothing, and were often harassed and forced to pay fines.
By 1960s, the vast majority of around 100,000 Jews who lived under the Nazi occupation left Tunisia. Most emigrated to Israel, but some moved to France, the former colonial ruler of Tunisia. Many of those who moved left everything behind. Today, only 1,500 Jews remain in Tunisia.
Up until the court’s decision, the Israeli government has maintained that Tunisian Jews did not qualify for payments from a fund set up from German reparations for Nazi victims because they were not forced to flee their homeland. The claimants, however, argued that they deserve equal standing to the European counterparts who received reparations under a German law, which provided compensation for those who were unable to flee Nazi persecution to a country of refuge.
The court agreed with the claimants, and said “no justification was found for denying the eligibility of the Jews of Tunisia for compensation.” David Etzion, an attorney for the claimants, said, “For more than five years our Finance Misnistry has rejected claims by the Jews of Tunisia. Now the Finance Ministry has to pay.”
For more information please see:
Associated Press – Tunisian Jews win Holocaust claim – 11 February 2008
Ynetnews – Tunisian Jews eligible for reparations – 9 February 2008
Infolive – Jews who lived in Tunisia to receive benefits given to Shoah survivors– 9 February 2008
