Tunisian president-elect: Normal ties with Israel are ‘high treason’

Tunisian president-elect: Normal ties with Israel are ‘high treason’

Kais Saied makes a speech after winning Tunisia's presidential election in Tunis, Sept. 15, 2019. (Nacer Talel/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Kais Saied makes a speech after winning Tunisia's presidential election in Tunis, Sept. 15, 2019. (Nacer Talel/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Tunisia’s president-elect said that normalization of his country’s relations with Israel are tantamount to “high treason.”

Kais Saied, an academic who won a resounding victory in the final round of presidential voting on Sunday, was asked about the normalization of ties with Israel in a televised debate two days earlier.

“‘Normalization’ is the wrong word to use,” Saied said. “We should be talking about high treason.”

Tunisia has no diplomatic relations with Israel. A law proposed last year would have criminalized ties with Jerusalem, but then-president Caid Essebsi did not endorse it.

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