The Tunisian Parliament began debates on Thursday around a bill which considers any normalization with Israel to be a crime and punishes with a prison sentence of up to life, an unprecedented text for the region. “We confirm that there is complete harmony between the position of the president, that of Parliament and the aspirations of public opinion,” said the President of Parliament, Brahim Bouderbala, at the opening of a plenary session of the Assembly of People’s Representatives (lower house) having to examine the text.
“We firmly believe that Palestine must be liberated from the river to the sea, the entire homeland must be restored and the Palestinian state must be established with Holy Jerusalem as its capital,” he added. The bill includes six articles and was drawn up by MPs supporting President Kais Saied, who revised the Constitution to establish an ultra-presidential regime after a takeover in the summer of 2021. In recent weeks, thousands of Tunisians demonstrated in support of the Palestinians, with Kais Saied denouncing an “unacceptable situation” in the Gaza Strip. He described any normalization with Israel as “high treason”, defending himself against any anti-Semitism.
A sentence of 6 to 12 years in prison for “high treason”
Tunisia, which hosted the PLO during the era of Yasser Arafat, between 1982 and 1994, has always supported the Palestinian cause. The text debated by the deputies defines “normalization” as “the recognition of the Zionist entity or the establishment of direct or indirect relations” with Israel. It provides for a sentence of 6 to 12 years in prison for “high treason” for anyone who commits “the crime of normalization” and life imprisonment for repeat offenses.
This law prohibits “all intentional acts involving communication, contact, propaganda, the conclusion of contracts or cooperation, directly or indirectly, by natural or legal persons of Tunisian nationality with all natural and legal persons affiliated with the “Zionist entity”. Any interaction is also prohibited for Tunisians with “individuals, institutions, organizations, governmental or non-governmental entities” linked to Israel, “with the exception of internal Palestinians”.
“Participating in activities, events, demonstrations, meetings, exhibitions, competitions, whether political, economic, scientific, cultural, artistic or sporting, taking place in the territory occupied or controlled” by Israel is also prohibited.
“Determining the repercussions” of the law
In his speech, Brahim Bouderbala pointed to “approval of the West and mainly of the United States and many European countries” for “one of the greatest crimes committed against humanity: murder, destruction and the use of internationally banned weapons. Despite a consensus on the text between around 160 deputies, Parliament is not expected to immediately vote on this law.
Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar said Wednesday evening in an interview on the Wataniya television channel that “it takes time to express an opinion on this project.” “Every law must be studied to determine its repercussions. We cannot enact a law in two days. Who are we criminalizing? We have no relationship with the Zionist entity, so what are we criminalizing?” , he asked himself.
The Tunisian Jewish community numbers a thousand people, the majority of whom live on the island of Djerba (south) where a pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue is organized every year in May which attracts thousands of people.