Only about 30 people appeared on Thursday in this year’s Jewish pilgrimage on the island of Tunisia or Djerba in the midst of security conerns after a 2023 mortal attack and the war progresses in Gaza.
The pilgrimage to the Synagogue of Griba, the oldest in Africa, has attracted thousands of pilgrims in Europe, Israel and beyond, also attracting international and local tours.
But after a 2023 mortal attack against the synagogue that killed two worshipers and three police officers, Feer’s pilgrims have been doing the pilgrimage.
“It has a difficult bone for people, given what is happening in the world,” Rene Trabelsi, an event organizer, told AFP.
“The pilgrimage has gone through many difficult periods in its history,” he said.
This year’s activities were limited to interior events in the place of worship.
“In 30 years, I have never seen the synagogue of Ghriba so empty,” said Khoudhir Hanya, synagogue manager.
“Usually, even a week before, pilgrims begin to arrive, sometimes up to 1,000 people.”
Earlier this month, a knife attack wounded a local Jewish jeweler, but Trabelsi said it was not clear if it was motivated by anti -Semitism, since the authorities have not provided more details.
The pilgrimage is in the heart of the Jewish tradition in Tunisia, where only about 1,500 members of the faith still live, mainly in Djerba. Many have gone to Israel and France.
The organizers say that more than 5,000 people, mainly from abroad, attended the pilgrimage in 2023, that up to 8,000 pilgrims had attended in previous years.
Sinagogue security had already been clenched after previous attacks.
A suicidal truck bombing in 2002, claimed by Al-Qaeda, killed 21 in the synagogue, and another attack in 1985 killed four faithful and a police officer.
