Faith and Politics: Jewish Pilgrimage on Djerba

The synagogue is still a quiet place. But at the start of the international Jewish pilgrimage on Saturday, according to the organizers, several thousand believers are again expected in the church on the island of Djerba. For around eight days, pilgrims in Tunisia have the opportunity to take part in religious celebrations – on this scale for the first time in two years. Because in 2020 and 2021 the pilgrimages were canceled due to the corona pandemic or access was severely limited. But four to five thousand visitors from several countries are now expected again, says Perez Trabelsi, president of the Jewish community on Djerba and chairman of the organizing committee, in an interview with DW.

The synagogue on Djerba, one of the oldest in all of Africa, is an ancient Jewish pilgrimage site. According to legend, El Ghriba, as it is called in Arabic, was built on fragments of the first Jerusalem temple. Jewish refugees are said to have brought them with them to Tunisia after the church was destroyed in 586 BC.

Today, around a thousand Tunisian Jews live in Djerba, and there are only a few more in the entire country. This makes the Jewish community there the largest in Tunisia and the second largest in the Arab world, surpassed only by that in Casablanca, which numbers between 1,500 and 2,000 members.

difficult homeland

After Tunisia’s independence in 1956, many Tunisian Jews left their homeland. On the one hand they were reacting to the difficult economic situation of those years, on the other hand the tensions between them and their mostly Muslim fellow citizens grew after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent military conflicts. Discrimination and pressure to emigrate increased.

A second major emigration began after the Six Day War in 1967. The Middle East conflict repeatedly affected the life and security of Jews in Tunisia, to the point of violent riots in which people died. The Tunisian government verbally condemned the violence, but did not prevent the exodus. This had enormous demographic consequences: in the 1950s, around 100,000 Jews lived in Tunisia, roughly a hundred times as many as today.

In 2002 the synagogue was the target of a terrorist attack. At that time, a truck loaded with 5,000 liters of liquid gas rammed into the church. The explosion killed 19 people, including 14 tourists from Germany. The Islamist terrorist organization al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack.

In January 2018 there was also an arson attack on a Jewish school in Djerba. He caused minor property damage.

President has positioned himself against Israel

Even today, the Jewish-Muslim relationship in Tunisia is repeatedly subjected to stress tests. As in many countries in the region, not all citizens in Tunisia always make a clear distinction between Jews and Israelis.

Current President Kais Saied had said before he was elected to office in October 2019 that he would not allow anyone with an Israeli passport to enter Tunisia – not even to visit the synagogue in Djerba. He was obviously protesting against the normalization process between Israel and some Arab states, including Tunisia’s neighbor Morocco. This rapprochement is formally recorded in the so-called Abraham Agreements, which Saied described as “high treason” according to media reports at the time.

As far as relations with Israel are concerned, Tunisia’s Foreign Ministry ruled out establishing diplomatic relations with Israel in the summer of last year – although entry by Israelis has been tolerated in exceptional cases in the past.

Israelis are by no means welcome everywhere in the country. When heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the Islamist Hamas last May, many Tunisians expressed their solidarity with the Palestinians at rallies. In spring 2022, the newly filmed Agatha Christie classic “Death on the Nile” was banned in the country. Obvious reason: lead actress Gal Gadot is Israeli.

praise of coexistence

Many Jews in Tunisia try to remain as apolitical as possible. They emphasize examples of successful social coexistence between Jews and Muslims. Tunisia’s chief rabbi, Haïm Bitan, told DW that relations with the Muslim majority population were largely free of tension: “The coexistence has always existed. Muslims and Christians live in the same neighborhoods without having any problems with each other.”

The head of the community on Djerba also swears by the good relationship – and cites the preparation of the pilgrimage as an example: Many Tunisian Muslims also contribute to its success, assures Perez Trabelsi. “I myself live more among Muslim than among Jewish Tunisians,” he says, describing the situation there. “Most of the people I work with in the synagogue are also Muslims.” At Jewish celebrations, Trabelsi praises, Muslim Tunisians made up around a third of the visitors. “They come here to watch and take part in the celebrations, so it’s a unique event.”

Can Israelis enter the country for pilgrimage?

Whether the irritations on the Middle East political stage and earlier statements by the President this year will also affect the presence of Israeli pilgrims remains to be seen. It is not yet clear whether Jews from Israel will also come to Tunisia, Trabelsi told DW a few days before the start of the pilgrimage. There are currently complications related to the visa. “We don’t have any information from the government yet,” but there have already been many inquiries: “But of course we don’t want to cause any confusion ourselves because of the sensitivity of the issue.” At the time this article was published, DW was unable to verify whether Israelis could take part this time.

Jews of Tunisian origin now live in numerous countries, including Israel, emphasizes the president of the Jewish community. “You all have the right to visit Djerba and the synagogue regardless of your political background. Whether a visitor comes from Israel or from another country is not our concern. It’s always about the individual person.”