(MENAFN- The Peninsula) An annual Jewish pilgrimage to Africa's oldest synagogue in Tunisia began in a festive atmosphere Wednesday, despite tight security after the Bardo museum massacre and warnings of planned attacks.
Around 200 Jews joined the pilgrimage on the island of Djerba in southern Tunisia, voicing defiance as they chanted and lit candles at the Ghriba synagogue.
"I could not miss this," Janet, a 54-year-old Israeli of Tunisian origin, told AFP. "It was important for me to make this pilgrimage, whatever the risks."
Believed to have been founded in 586 BC by Jews fleeing the destruction of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, the Ghriba synagogue has long been a pilgrimage site, especially for Jews of Tunisian descent.
There were an estimated 100,000 Jews in Tunisia when the country gained independence from France in 1956, but the number has since dwindled to around 1,500.
Pilgrims visit the tombs of famous rabbis for the Lag BaOmer Jewish festival, including on Djerba island, where one of the last Jewish communities in the Arab world still lives.
On Wednesday they could be seen praying and carrying out rituals like writing wishes on eggs and drinking a glass of boukha fig brandy before being blessed by a rabbi.
The number of pilgrims visiting the synagogue has fallen sharply since a 2002 suicide bombing claimed by Al-Qaeda that killed 21.
And security is especially tight this year after the March attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis, claimed by the Islamic State group, which killed 21 foreign tourists and a Tunisian policeman.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that his country had learned of "concrete threats" of attacks against Jewish or Israeli targets in the North African country, prompting a quick denial from Tunis.
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