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Tunisia’s new president: Any ties with Israel ‘high treason’

Kais Saied: Jews with passports other than Israeli ones welcome to visit Tunisia’s synagogues • No “dealings with Zionists.”

Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed. Sept. 14, 2019. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed. Sept. 14, 2019. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Tunisia’s new president said late last week that the relationship with Israel equals “high treason.”

“ ‘Normalization’ is the wrong word to use,” said Kais Saied in response to a question in the final televised presidential debate about the warming of relations between the Jewish state and the Arab and Muslim world. “We should be talking about high treason.”

Saied defeated rival Nabil Karoui with 77% of the votes in Sunday’s election.

While Saied said that Jews with passports other than Israeli ones were welcome to visit Tunisia’s synagogues, there should be no “dealings with Zionists.”

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The Democrats Party chairman said that more extreme factions are now ruling over the Islamic Republic.