Hundreds of pilgrims from all over the world visit a synagogue on the island of Djerba every year for the Jewish festival of Lag Baomer. A deadly attack there brings back memories of a bloody crime more than 20 years ago.
At least four people were killed in an attack on a synagogue in Tunisia, authorities said. In addition to two visitors to the Jewish house of worship, a security guard and the attacker himself were also killed in the incident on the island of Djerba, the North African country’s interior ministry announced late yesterday evening.
According to this, the security officer is said to have first killed his colleague and then “randomly” shot around in front of the La Ghriba synagogue. Eventually he was killed by security forces. Four other believers and five security guards were also injured. The course of the crime and the backgrounds were under investigation, it said.
According to the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the synagogue visitors killed were a 30-year-old from Tunisia and a 42-year-old from France.
Important place of pilgrimage
The Jewish festival Lag Baomer is taking place in the synagogue these days, to which many local believers and pilgrims from Israel, France and other countries travel every year. According to Israeli media reports, around 1,000 people were in the church during the crime. During the festival, particularly strict safety precautions apply every year.
Videos circulating on social media appeared to show panicked people running through a neighboring building to the synagogue as gunshots rang out. Decorated with Tunisian flags, the caravanserai – originally a hostel for travelers – is, like the synagogue itself, the scene of the celebrations.
Tunisia has no diplomatic ties to Israel, but exceptionally allows its citizens to enter the country as part of organized tours for the festival. According to the Jewish community, only around 1,800 Jews live in Tunisia itself, most of them in Djerba. In the middle of the 20th century there were still about 100,000 Jews in Tunisia.
attack in 2002
Lag Baomer is a Jewish festival of joy. It traditionally punctuates the period of mourning between Passover – which commemorates the liberation of the Jews from slavery by the Egyptian pharaohs – and the Shavuot harvest festival.
Popular with tourists, La Ghriba Synagogue on Djerba, with its magnificently designed interior, dates from 1920. Its foundation stone is said to have come from the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem. In 2002, 20 people, including 14 German tourists, died in an attack by the Islamist terrorist organization Al-Qaeda on the synagogue.
Source: Stern
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