Twenty-one-year-old Yohav Hattab, one of the victims of the Paris supermarket attack, which killed four people on January 9, holds only one nationality: Tunisian.

The son of Benjamin Hattab, chief Rabbi of Tunis and director of a Jewish school, Yohav Hattab, was studying international trade in Paris for the last two years. Yohav Hattab was buried in a cemetery in Jerusalem, along with the other three Jewish victims of the attack that followed the bloody raid of the Charlie Hebdo editorial offices.

Twenty-one-year-old Yohav Hattab, one of the victims of the Paris supermarket attack, which killed four people on January 9, holds only one nationality: Tunisian.

The son of Benjamin Hattab, chief Rabbi of Tunis and director of a Jewish school, Yohav Hattab, was studying international trade in Paris for the last two years. Yohav Hattab was buried in a cemetery in Jerusalem, along with the other three Jewish victims of the attack that followed the bloody raid of the Charlie Hebdo editorial offices.

Hattab’s corpse was brought to Israel despite the fact that his father had earlier announced in a statement on France 2 Channel that he wanted to bury his son in Tunisia.  The rabbi also said that  Jews in Tunisia lived in peace and did not experience harassment, even after the January 14th revolution. 

Some social media internet activists said burying Hattab in Israel politicized his death:

“Israel wants to gain more of the Jews’ sympathy despite the fact that the victim was proud of his Tunisian origin.”  Social networking sites circulated photos of Hattab wrapped with the Tunisian flag after casting his vote in the recent Tunisian presidential election in one of the polling stations in the French capital.

Sion Cohen, a member of the Jewish community in Tunisia and a friend of the victim, told Correspondents: “Tunisia is a land of tolerance and coexistence between religions.” In an interview with him, held in front of the synagogue in the capital city during a ceremonial prepared in commemoration of Yohav Hattab, he stressed that he never felt he was different from other Tunisians. “He was planning to return back to Tunisia when he finishes his education, but terrorism does not distinguish between religions,” Cohen said. 

Cohen did not believe that his friend’s burial in Israel had anything to do with politics, rather it was a religious decision. “Jerusalem is the capital of all religions and the Mount of Olives cemetery, where the victims of the terrorist attack in Paris were buried. It holds an important religious status because it is a holy land and this is considered a way of honouring the victims of the attack.” 

Jacob Lellouche, head of the Jewish Cultural Society in Tunisia, who was carrying a Tunisian flag during a ceremony commemorating Yohav Hattab, said: “Tunisia paid a very high price in bloody attacks witnessed in Paris. “Hattab, similar to all other Jewish Tunisians, was proud of his Tunisian nationality and of his loyalty to Tunisia.”

Lellouche also said Hattab’s burial in Jeruselum was purely religious and all the victims were honoured by being buried the “cemetery of prophets.”

Yamina Thabet, the head of the Tunisian Association for the Support of Minorities in Tunisia, said: “I wanted Hattab to be buried in Tunisia, but the choice of his burial place was made by his family and we should respect its decision.  It is a religious practice and has nothing to do with political conflicts.” 

“If he had been buried in Tunisia, this would have been the best example of religious tolerance in the country and it would have well-established diversity and coexistence, which characterises the Tunisian people.” However, Yamina expressed her concern about the absence of any response by the Tunisian government regarding the terrorist attack, which targeted Yohav. “The government should have issued a statement or an official stance to condemn this criminal act.” 

Media sources at the Tunisian Foreign Ministry told Correspondents: “The Tunisian Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi called Hattab’s father to express his condolences as well as the solidarity of Tunisians with the family.” 

The Foreign Ministry stressed that Tunisia does not differentiate between Tunisians, “Who have always lived together, Muslims, Jews and Christians, throughout the country’s long history.”

The foreign ministry also said that the decision to bury Hattab in Israel was entirely a family decision.