Tunisia: Shalom visits childhood home
Foreign minister visits Tunisian village where he was born 47 years ago, only to find house in which he was born destroyed; says, ‘it’s sad that the Jewish community that was once here is no longer. However, my roots are here. I came, saw and I feel fully gratified’
Residents of the tiny Tunisian village of Gabes never imagined that their community will be the focus of the world media. When dozens of journalists, photographers and cameramen entered their village on Thursday, they were forced to hide in their homes and could not even steal a glimpse of the show through their windows.
The hype that overtook Gabes came with announcement that Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was visiting the village where he was born 47 years ago.
An Israeli delegation headed by Shalom and his mother landed in a local airport Thursday afternoon. Two local girls wearing traditional costumes welcomed the foreign minister with flower bouquets. Shalom was in a hurry, his plane had to take off by 4.30 p.m. (local time) before the airport shut down for the day. Yet under no circumstances was he to give up this special moment.
Shalom and his mother headed to the local synagogue for a Mincha (afternoon prayer). Jewish locals welcomed Shalom, whose arrival they anticipated with great enthusiasm.
“We’ve been preparing for the visit since it was made public,” Yosef Ma’aman told Ynet.
'Not thinking of elections'
Shalom was told that his mother and father got married in this synagogue. Excitement filled his face as a group of locals recited a blessing and presented him with a present on behalf of the community.
Asked by Ynet whether he pondered the elections during the blessing recital, Shalom answered that “he does not think about these things in emotional moments like these.”
From the synagogue Shalom and his family headed to the building that his parents once owned. He carefully listened to his mother, who evoked the neighbors and expressed her amazement with how much the neighborhood had changed. Then the family arrived to a destroyed structure that was once the home in which Shalom was born.
“It’s sad that the Jewish community that was once here is no longer. However, my roots are here. I came, saw and I feel fully gratified,” Shalom said.
“I am glad to return to the place where my son was born and lived for two months,” Shalom’s mother said.
