Tunisia’s Joint Coordination for Palestine revealed they had received warnings from authorities about possible assassination attempts targeting its leaders. [Getty]
On a breezy spring Saturday evening, chants echoed in Tunisia, from the coastal city of Sousse to the capital Tunis: “One demand from the masses: close the American Embassy, expel the ambassador.”
In Tunis, dozens gathered over the weekend outside the US embassy in protest of Israel’s war on Gaza and Washington’s complicity in the genocide that claimed over 50,000 lives.
“America is the other face of Zionism. (…) They’re not just supporting genocide in Gaza they are participating in it,” declared Bashir Khodri, head of the Ansar Palestine Association, standing draped in a Palestinian keffiyeh.
Since Israel’s war erupted in October 2023, during the ceasefire, and now after Israel shattered it, Tunisians have taken to the streets with growing frequency.
From embassies to university campuses, they have been denouncing the US-backed annihilation in Gaza, Israel’s near-daily strikes on Syria, and US-UK bombing campaigns in Yemen.
Solidarity with Palestine has long shaped Tunisia’s public discourse, but the unrelenting war in Gaza has deepened a broader fury toward the United States, one that is no longer just rhetorical.
Over the weekend, slogans ranged from “No US embassy on Tunisian soil” to “Resistance, resistance, no peace, no compromise.”
The protests are spearheaded by a growing coalition of civil society groups, notably the Tunisian Network to Counter Normalisation, a grassroots movement opposed to diplomatic ties with Israel.
The local group has urged Tunisians to flood the US embassy phone lines with calls. Videos circulating online show embassy staff hanging up after seconds of silence, a form of symbolic protest that has gained traction.
“After a year and a half of massacres in Gaza, it’s not enough to just mourn. The people demand action, starting with shutting down that embassy,” said activist Abdallah Dridi during the protest.
The role of the new pro-Trump envoy to TunisiaÂ
Although Tunisia has never officially closed the US embassy or expelled its ambassador, the compound has repeatedly become a target of public rage.
In 2012, following the release of an “anti-Islam film”, protesters stormed the grounds and torched the adjacent American school. The embassy was briefly shut down and staff evacuated.
Since then, every regional flashpoint—from President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital to the current war in Gaza—has revived demands to sever diplomatic ties. However, this time, the calls are louder and angrier.
Tensions intensified after the US appointed Bill Bazzi, a close Arab-American ally of Trump, as ambassador to Tunisia.
During a White House Iftar last month, President Donald Trump praised Bazzi for his support in the election before reiterating his commitment to peace in the region—a reference, many speculated, to pushing more countries, Tunisia included, to join the Abraham Accords.
In April, the Italian outlet Panorama reported that Trump may offer debt relief to Tunisia in exchange for normalisation with Israel—a rumour that sent waves of concern through civil society.
For many Tunisians, such a deal would be unthinkable, given the country’s long pro-Palestine history and the street’s influential role in pushing to criminalise it.
Pro-Palestine activists facing assassination attempts
In November 2023, Parliament came closer than ever to criminalising normalisation with Israel. But the bill was abruptly withdrawn after President Kais Saied, who has styled himself as a vocal opponent of Zionism, asked the Speaker to halt debate. He cited “negative consequences for Tunisia’s external security and interests” which was a rare public acknowledgement from Saied of foreign pressure.
Inside Tunisia, the right to protest has also come under threat. In October 2024, police threatened to ban pro-Palestine rallies from marching along Avenue Bourguiba, Tunis’s iconic protest artery. Several activists were arrested and investigated on terrorism charges.
Among them was Ghassen Boughdiri, a pro-Palestine advocate, who appeared in court over a Facebook post in support of armed resistance. “Eliminating the enemy’s ambassadors is a national duty,” he wrote. He was briefly detained, but his case was referred to the anti-terrorism judiciary.
The Joint Coordination for Palestine, a coalition of anti-normalisation groups, later revealed they had received warnings from authorities about possible assassination attempts targeting its leaders.
No perpetrators were named, but the group accused the government of complicity, arguing that the absence of an anti-normalisation law has left activists exposed.
Will Trump’s tariffs influence Tunisia’s policy?
While subduing Tunisia’s street power may prove difficult for the new American administration, it has already begun targeting the country’s vulnerable economy.
Donald Trump’s liberation tariffs hit Tunisia’s struggling economy hard. The country’s olive oil industry — one of its most prized export sectors — is expected to suffer the consequences of the new 28% tariff. “The Americans squeeze us economically, then preach democracy and human rights,” said one protester. “They tariff us to arm Israel and bomb Yemen,” declared another.
Tunis has publicly condemned Israel’s war on Gaza and rejected pressure to normalise, though has yet to address the new tariffs.Â
For many Tunisians, the fight now is about reclaiming dignity in a world where, they believe, Arab lives from Tunis, to Sanaa, to Gaza are treated as expendable.
As the rally drew to a close, Tunisian protesters erupted into a familiar chant: “Take us to Palestine, to fight the Zionists” —a cry that first echoed from the terraces of football stadiums, where generations have imagined joining Palestinians on the front lines of resistance against the Israeli occupation.
