Djerba’s historic El Ghriba synagogue is nestled on a small island off the coast of Tunisia, its entrance adorned with bright red Tunisian flags that guide tourists towards the serene white and blue building.
Just metres away from the modest synagogue, however, stone-faced soldiers shine a light on the dark history of persecution one of the oldest Jewish communities in North Africa has faced — including on the steps of this very building.
In 2002, Al-Qaeda detonated a truck bomb just outside the synagogue. Nineteen people were killed in the attack.
Inside the El Ghriba synagogue on May 15, 2022.
Rachel Gilmore / Global News
While security has since grown tighter, mid-May continues to mark the weekend Jews from around the world flock to the site for their annual pilgrimage. The event had to be cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but otherwise between 2,000 and 3,000 people — and sometimes up to 7,000 — Jewish people visit every year.
The same steadiness cannot be attributed, however, to Tunisia’s Jewish population.
In 1948, there were 105,000 Jews living in the North African country. That number has since dwindled to roughly 1,500.
Why did Tunisia’s Jewish population leave?
There has been a recorded Jewish population living in Tunisia for over 2,000 years. According to the New York Times, the foundations of the El Ghriba synagogue date back to 586 B.C. — though its current iteration was constructed in the 19th century.
Over the course of those millennia, Tunisia’s Jewish population both has been subjugated and has thrived. But the last 70 years in Tunisia have been defined by the community dwindling ever closer to extinction.
A number of key things happened over the course of those 70 years. There were wars. There were antisemitic attacks. Tunisia also secured its independence from France in the 1950s.
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