Tunisia divided over Jews’ use of Israel passports

Associated Press ^ | Apr 23, 2014 3:09 PM EDT | Bouazza ben Bouazza

[Olog-hai]

Tunisia’s elected assembly accepted a petition Wednesday to question the tourism minister over a decision allowing Israelis to use their passports to enter the country for an annual religious pilgrimage.

While Israelis and Jews long have traveled to Tunisia for an annual pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba, this is the first year that Israelis have been allowed to use their passports rather than a special document issued by Tunisian embassies.

Tunisia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. …

[SunkenCiv]

Djerba claimed the oldest Jewish house of worship; in the last ten years in that enclave of kohens and silversmiths, which dates back to the 6th c BC, the jihadists started blowing up people and things. The lack of any apparent concern by the Tunisian “government” led to a major egress to Israel. Thanks Olog-hai.

[snip] According to oral tradition, a group of Jewish priests arrived from the Land of Israel shortly after the destruction of the First Temple in 587 BCE. They carried with them one of the gates of the destroyed Temple, and set it in the foundation of the synagogue built in Djerba. This legend is supported by genetic evidence... [/snip]

Source: http://www.geocurrents.info/place/southwest-asia-and-north-africa/tunisias-diverse-djerba-island-and-its-annual-jewish-pilgrimage#ixzz2zkHjlKou

[SJackson]

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[Valin]

“Tunisia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. …” Yet