Tunisian President Kais Saied has made no secret of his staunch opposition to the landmark Abraham Accords and Israel’s normalizing ties with its Muslim-majority neighbors. At times, he has even veered into outwardly anti-Semitic remarks to address his disdain for the Jewish State.

Yet despite Saied’s apparent opposition to joining the Abraham Accords , his decision in November 2023 to halt the Tunisian parliament’s controversial bill criminalizing normalizing ties with Israel provided a glimpse into the president’s cost-benefit analysis over measures that could alienate the West completely. It signaled an opening, even if a very narrow one, that the possibility of Tunisian—Israel rapprochement might not be as far-fetched as experts predict, and that even a rogue actor like Saied sees

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