Tunisia and Israel have been exploring the possibility of establishing closer ties despite efforts to derail this thaw in relations by Tunisian and Algerian entities.
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According to a diplomatic official who spoke with Israel Hayom, "expanding the sphere of countries that have ties with Israel has been a consistent Israeli goal, but it is also true that Algeria is still showing a hostile attitude [toward this effort]."
A report in the Arab-language international paper Rai Al-Youm, Tunisian President Kais Saied seeks to move close to Israel but "Algeria is blocking the country from falling into the normalization process." The report further said that Tunisia fears that embracing Israel would adversely affect its various commercial and financial interests in Algeria.
Tunisia and Israel had partial diplomatic relations in the 1990s as a result of the Oslo Accords, but the Tunisian diplomatic mission in Israel was shut down after the collapse of the peace process at the turn of the century. However, the current president has allowed Israelis to visit the country.
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