Tunisia – Assigning a Jewish minister raises controversy in political circles

Tunis-Tunisia 17/11/2018

Tunisia’s new cabinet reshuffle has raised controversy in political circles after assigning the Jewish Ronnie Trabelsi as Minister of Tourism, since he supports Israel and frequently visits it. Not to mention that he does not criminalize normalization with Israel. Although the parliament validated the new government reshuffle, the new ministers’ performance will be under observation from the moment they begin their work, and the laws to authorize acquisitions and prevent unjust enrichment will be applied. Analysts and politicians believe that the problem is not that the minister is Jewish, but because he supports normalization with Israel. They noted that he might not be efficient in running the ministry, especially since he possesses several tourism agencies, and that might lead to a conflict between his job as a minister and his personal interests.