Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts, René Trabelsi, firmly denied, on Tuesday, that he gave a television interview to the Israeli channel "I24", during which he spoke about the Palestinian cause and the possibility of a normalisation with Israel.
In an interview with TAP, the minister said that "the video of this television meeting, which stirred considerable controversy, actually shows an interview with Palestinian journalist Tahar Echeik, residing in Tunisia and director of the Palestinian Wafa News Agency's office in Tunis.
This interview was conducted at the request of Palestinian Ambassador in Tunis, Hael Al Fahoum, during the Golden Khomsa ceremony (December 2018)".
Trabelsi also reported that the meeting was filmed by a Tunisian team on behalf of the British information platform "SCOPAL", to be distributed to British channels broadcast in Arabic.
This interview was also aired by a Canadian channel.
He also explained that the Israeli channel bought from "SCOPAL" this interview and broadcast it again, because of the interest that Israelis have in everything that is happening in Middle Eastern countries.
The Minister called "to stop peddling directed and insistent rumours that hinder the Ministry's activity", stressing "the importance of verifying the veracity of the information and its sources before publishing it".
This article has been adapted from its original source.
