Tunisia Refuses to Normalize Relations with Israel

The Tunisian Parliament has unexpectedly canceled a scheduled general session for Monday, which was meant to discuss a law criminalizing normalization with Israel.

The parliament was set to review the law, previously approved by the Rights and Freedoms Committee earlier this month, amid escalating tensions in the Gaza Strip.

However, the parliament’s agenda for the upcoming week does not include any session dedicated to this specific law, and the council’s office has not provided an alternative date.

Deputy Bilal Al-Mashri stated that the cancellation of the general session by Parliament Speaker Ibrahim Bodurballah represents “a deliberate attempt to obstruct the law and an effort to procrastinate in order to eventually drop it.”

He also noted that the speaker’s request to hear the Foreign Ministry’s opinion on the bill is “a deception to the public.”

The “Tunisian Campaign Against Normalization” has released a statement urging for protest stands in front of the parliament building in Bardo to pressure lawmakers into passing the law.

The proposed law, submitted by the “National Sovereign Line” parliamentary block, imposes penalties ranging from two to five years, along with a financial fine between 10,000 and 100,000 Tunisian dinars, against anyone who establishes any form of relations with Israel or attempts to do so.

Tunisia does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel. However, Israeli tourists, mostly of Tunisian origin, annually visit the tourist Island of Djerba in the southern part of the country, home to a Jewish minority, to participate in the annual celebrations at the El Ghriba synagogue.