Israel on Tuesday urged its nationals and all Jews not to embark on pilgrimage to Judaism’s holy sites in Tunisia, fearing Al-Qaeda attacks to avenge the death of its leader Osama bin Laden.  

“Given that Al-Qaeda wants to avenge the assassination of Osama bin Laden, and that there are many Jews who want to visit Tunisia for the celebration of Lag Ba’Omer (on May 22), we advise against travelling to Tunisia,” reads a statement by Israeli anti-terrorist organisations.  

On Monday, the head of the Jewish community in Djerba, Perez Trabelsi, told AFP that pilgrimage celebrations at the Ghriba synagogue, the oldest Jewish place of worship in Africa, had been cancelled due to “a lack of overseas visitors”.  

Around 1,500 Jews live today in Tunisia where Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, who has ruled the country since 1987, fled on Friday for Saudi Arabia after deadly protests over unemployment, high prices and lack of freedom of expression.

The Jewish community in Tunisia is still one of the largest in the Arab world but its numbers have sharply dropped from 100,000 on independence from France in 1956. Most of the Jews emigrated to France or Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

There are several synagogues in the country together with kindergartens and schools.

The most famous synagogue is the Ghriba synagogue located in the village of  Hara Sghira on the island of Djerba. The current building was constructed in late 19th or early 20th century, but the site is believed to have had a synagogue on it for the past 1,900 years.

Thousands of Tunisian Jews from around the world have for centuries made an annual pilgrimage to the Ghriba on Lag Ba’Omer.

The El Ghriba synagogue is located in the former Jewish village of Harah Sghira and, according to one tradition, was established by a group of Kohanim, from the Bais Hamikdash, who supposedly settled on the island immediately after the destruction of the first Bais Hamikdash. (The tradition holds that the refugees brought a door and a stone from the destroyed Bais Hamikdash with them.)

On April 11, 2002, just before the pilgrimage, a truck full of explosives was detonated close to the synagogue, killing 21 people of whom 14 were German tourists, five Tunisians and 2 Frenchmen, and wounding over 30. Al Qaeda had claimed responsibility.

Nearly half of the Jews who remain in Tunisia live in Djerba.

(Source: AFP)