Tunisia -

The annual visit of Jews to the "Ghariba" temple in southern Tunisia has revived the controversy over the issue of normalization, after accusations by human rights advocates and parties to the authorities of allowing extremist Israeli figures and others supporting them to attend under a religious cover.

After a two-year hiatus due to the Corona epidemic, about 5,000 Jews returned to the Tunisian island of Djerba to perform the rituals of "pilgrimage to the Temple of El Ghriba", according to what was confirmed to Al Jazeera Net, head of the Jewish community in Tunisia, Perez Trabelsi.

Trabelsi criticized what he described as "some people's attempt to stir up the atmosphere of peaceful coexistence in the country by creating rumours," stressing that "all those who came to the island are Jews of Tunisian origin and holders of its passport, and they do not have any racist or extremist ideas."

Tunisian Prime Minister Najla Boden - while attending the activities of this demonstration - blew up the controversy after the presidency account published a picture of her accompanied by a French religious figure of Tunisian origin, Hassan Chalghoumi, who publicly supports the Israeli army, and is described as "the godfather of normalization", so that the government had to delete it after that.

The head of the Jewish community in Tunisia denied the arrival of Israeli passport holders (communication sites)

penetration focus

The Secretary-General of the Popular Current Party, Zuhair Hamdi, denounced what he said "turned the synagogue in Ghariba, Tunisia into a hotbed of Israeli penetration and the printing press" under the pretext of performing Jewish religious rituals.

Hamdi stressed in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that there is a wide gap between allowing Tunisian Jews to practice their religious rites, and bringing in Zionist groups and personalities who profess their support for the Israeli army.

At the same time, the Secretary-General of the Popular Movement described the accusations of some political figures opposing the President of the Republic of tending towards normalization and abandoning his previous slogans;

They are attempts to ride on the event and score political points.

Hamdi stated that those same parties had previously refused to pass the bill “criminalizing normalization with the Zionist entity” in parliament, stressing that Tunisia is being subjected to a severe process of blackmail from external forces and the Zionist “gathering” (lobby) in the world pushing it towards normalization, and bartering it for its food and economic security. .

The Popular Current Party had revealed - in an official statement - the transformation of the Jews’ visit to the Ghariba Synagogue into an “annual occasion to deepen normalization with the enemy entity and an opportunity to enter its most dangerous terrorist elements,” according to its description. In the same statement, the party renewed its adherence to a law criminalizing normalization with Israel to protect national security.

For years, Tunisian anti-normalization associations and parties have been trying to pressure the authorities and push them towards a law criminalizing normalization, amid fears that Tunisia will join the ranks of neighboring countries that have announced political and economic normalization with Israel.

religious cover

The Secretary-General of the Republican Party, Issam Chebbi, said, "Jews are welcome in Tunisia to perform their religious rituals, but the matter should not be taken as a ride and an entry point for normalization and penetration of the Tunisian arena by the printing press."

Al-Shabi continued to Al-Jazeera Net, "We welcome all the Jews of the world, except for the Zionists, and we do not welcome the murderers of the martyr Muhammad Al-Zawari and Sherine Abu Aqila, and those who seized the lands of Palestine and abused its people."

Chebbi criticized what he described as double standards and inconsistencies;

Referring to the previous position announced by Tunisian President Kais Saied during his election campaign, when he stressed that "normalization is a high treason", after which he allowed printing press personalities to enter Tunisian soil.

The Secretary-General of the Republican Party also directed his arrows of criticism to some nationalist parties in Tunisia, which - according to him - did not show any position towards the entry of Israeli figures into the country, and "they have always traded the Palestinian cause in political rivalries."

It is noteworthy that Tunisian parties and organizations had earlier expressed their condemnation of the assassination of Al-Jazeera correspondent Sherine Abu Akleh by the Israeli occupation forces, while describing the late President of the Republic as a "martyr of speech and free thought."