The massive storm that devastated Libya’s Derna is somehow linked to Zionism because it was named “Daniel,” according to Tunisian President Kais Saied. In a conversation posted on social media on Tuesday, he can be heard making a series of comments about the storm and its name.
Storms are often named randomly in line with various methods of naming storms after women and men and using sequential letters of the alphabet. Nevertheless, Saied said the name “Daniel” was evidence of “Zionism’s growing influence.”
Derna has been devastated by the storm and floods. The Arabic-language Euro News news site also reported on Saied’s comments. Bodies were still being pulled from the sea, and thousands of people are missing and presumed killed, it reported. A quarter of the city is believed to be destroyed, the report said.
Today in anti-Semitic madness:Tunisia's president, Kais Saied, claims that Storm Daniel (which destroyed Derna, Libya) is evidence of Zionist infiltration & a Zionist "attack on the mind & thought" bc it's named Daniel, after a "Hebrew prophet." ♀️⬇️pic.twitter.com/whxk57Mis0
— Monica Marks (@MonicaLMarks) September 19, 2023
“Amid this humanitarian crisis, a statement by Tunisian President Kais Saied sparked a wave of criticism that deemed him busy with another topic that was not commensurate with the scale of the disaster,” the Euro News report said.
He had excoriated the name of the storm, as if the name itself had something to do with how devastating it was, and he claimed “Zionism has penetrated,” it said.
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Many social media users have reacted to his comments.
Some of the reactions on social media said “Daniel” is not only a name associated with a prophet and Jews, but also that he is known in Islam as well, and that there are tombs and pilgrimage sites associated with him in Iraq and Iran.
Others said Tunisia has become more authoritarian under Saied, and recent migration issues between Europe and North African states have focused on Tunisia.
In addition, there were concerns that comments like this came in the wake of an attack near the synagogue in Djerba. Tunisia has a Jewish community.
The comments also came in the wake of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas making antisemitic remarks and after a controversy in Libya regarding a meeting between the Libyan foreign minister and Israel’s foreign minister in Italy. The Libyan minister fled the country after reports of the meeting, and there were protests.