In Tunisia, the annual Jewish pilgrimage of Ghriba which takes place in the south of the country, in Djerba, will not be held as usual this year. Religious rituals will remain confined inside the synagogue, without festivities or visits from foreign pilgrims, according to a press release from the organizers published on April 19. This cancellation is linked to the current context of the war in Gaza, but also to the trauma of the attack of May 9, 2023.
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“ There was no point in maintaining the pilgrimage, in the current context, there would have been no one » explains a Tunisian Jew, accustomed to the rite. Rumors were already circulating about the cancellation of the pilgrimage which brought together between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors per year in Tunisia. Only religious rites are maintained given the current international context, announces the press release from the organizers, in reference to the war in Gaza. The large procession behind the menorah and the three-day festivities alongside moments of prayer and contemplation will therefore not take place this year.
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Security in front of the synagogue should also be reinforced… The trauma of the attack of 2023 is still alive: an agent of the national guard had fired in the parking lot of the synagogue just after the passage of the procession which marks the last day of the pilgrimage. Despite the immediate reaction of the security forces, two pilgrims and three police officers were killed.
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At the time, many pilgrims, traumatized, already said they did not want to return this year. In Tunisia, the Jewish community now represents only a handful of people, 1,500 Tunisian Jews, the majority of whom are in Djerba, near Ghriba.