Tunisia postpones vote on bill criminalizing normalization with Israel

TUNIS, Tunisia

The speaker of Tunisia’s parliament on Thursday announced postponement of a vote on a bill to criminalize normalization with Israel.

The vote was postponed till Friday, according to Ibrahim Bouderbala.

On Thursday, Bouderbala said Tunisian President Kais Saied had urged him to tell lawmakers that the bill would hurt Tunisia's external security and interests.

He said that he passed this on from Saied to the lawmakers.

The draft bill, first presented to parliament in August, aimed to outlaw any Tunisian contact with Israel.

In fall 2020, several Arab countries signed normalization deals with Israel, but since this Oct. 7, when renewed fighting broke out between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, the signing of new deals has been put on hold, according to Israeli officials.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar​​​​​​​