A number of Tunisia’s opposition political parties have called for ratifying a law that criminalizes normalization, while several Ennahda Movement lawmakers insisted on reviewing draft laws that criminalize establishing ties with the Zionist entity.
This came during the parliamentary session to discuss the financial and economic situations, negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the reforms proposed by the government of Hichem Mechichi.
Ennahda stated that solidarity with the Palestinian people should not be “auctioned to the highest bidder,” and one of the movement’s top leaders warned against misusing the cause.
The parliament amended its agenda, adding the situation in Palestine for discussion. In addition, the Tunisian and Palestinian flags were hoisted inside the parliament in Le Bardo to show support to the Palestinian people in their struggle against the continuous Zionist attacks.
Democratic Bloc MP Haykel Mekki called for urgent consideration of the bill incriminating normalization with Israel. The bloc submitted the draft law last December.
He called on the Tunisian parliament to urgently resolve this issue, considering it as the only response and official public position that must be issued regarding the crimes against the Palestinian people.
Mekki rejected to solely issuing a statement, noting that the parliament must discuss the bill during a session, “otherwise it would be considered treason.”
The opposition parties accuse the Islamist Ennahda movement and its allies of obstructing the law criminalizing normalization. The parties want to put the draft for urgent discussion in the upcoming parliamentary session.
Speaker Rached Ghannouchi affirmed at the beginning of the session that the Palestinians realize now more than ever that their fate lies in their hands, recalling Tunisia's firm position in defending the Palestinian people and their just cause.
He noted that during the 31st Extraordinary Conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU), Tunis called for an international fundraising campaign in solidarity with the Palestinian people as well as the creation of an online and permanent coordination mechanism between Arab parliaments to support the Palestinian cause.
