Tunisians protest diplomatic ties with Zionist Israel

Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of the Tunisian capital calling on their government to refrain from establishing diplomatic ties with Zionist Israel.

“Death to all Tunisians attempting to normalize relations with Zionist Israel,”…”We will denounce them and publish their names,” AFP quoted Ahmed Kahlaoui, who chairs a committee opposing the normalization of ties between the countries.

Earlier this month, the authority in charge of political reform following the ouster of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, adopted a “republican pact” meant to form the basis of a new constitution.

The pact rules out the normalization of ties with Zionist Israel but some of the body’s members reportedly preferred to exclude the issue from the document.

Sunday’s demonstrators say they can no longer trust the current government and threatened to oust leaders who support the normalization of ties with Zionist Israel.

“We can no longer trust this body’s members, which includes academics who support normalization with Zionist Israel and have had ties themselves,” Kahlaoui said.

Israeli and Tunisian authorities opened interest sections in 1996 but Tunis broke off all relations with Tel Aviv after the start of the second intifada in 2000.

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