Tunisian Jewish leader says no to aliyah
Some three months after the Islamist party's triumph in the Tunisian parliamentary elections, prominent figures in the country's Jewish community told the BBC they have no intention of making aliyah.
"Me, I'm a Tunisian Jew," said Atun Khalifa, a senior figure in the community. "I know my country well and I'm against the proposition to leave because no-one here is afraid. I don't tell him (Shalom) where to go!"
Khalifa was referring to Israeli Vice Premier Silvan Shalom, who said that for their own safety all of Tunisia's remaining Jews should move to Israel.
The latest vote constituted the first free elections in Tunisia since the ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. He was the first Arab leader to be deposed in a country that sparked the wave of anti-regime protests known as the Arab Spring. The phenomenal success of the Ennahda party raised concerns that it could impose an Islamist code such as the one practiced in countries like Iran.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4183413,00.html