a Frenchman from Marseille killed in the attack on the Djerba synagogue

The Djerba synagogue was attacked on Tuesday, May 9, in Tunisia. A pilgrim filmed in the evening, while worshipers hunkered down. Shots rang out outside the building. The Jewish holiday was coming to an end when the public came out. According to the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior, the assailant is a gendarme who allegedly shot a colleague, seizing his ammunitionbefore attacking the synagogue and of kill another gendarme as well as two faithful, one of whom French.

An “extremely protected” synagogue

“You should know that the synagogue of Djerba is extremely protected during the pilgrimage. So there are several checkpoints before you get there, and it was at the checkpoint closest to the synagogue that the attack took place.“, reports Rudy Saada, journalist for RCJ. The assailant was subsequently shot. His motives are unknown. The deceased French pilgrim lived in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), where the Jewish community learned the news with horror. He had a wife and four children, and ran a bakery business, as says Me. Fabienne Bendayan, president of CRIF Marseille Provence.