Tunisian condemned for singing with Israeli

Update: Noamane Chaari has received death threats and been sacked from his job.

A Tunisian composer and singer who recorded a song with an Israeli has been lambasted by journalists, political figures and social media users. Although the song, 'Peace between neighbours' by Noamane Chaari and ZivYeheskel, was viewed over 1.5 million times, it seems that Tunisia is not yet ready to 'normalise' with Israel. In fact Chaari's career may well suffer. See MEMRI report (with thanks: Lily)

  

 During Chaari's December 12 interview with the Tunisian radio station Mosaïque FM, the interviewer, well-known media figure Hadi Za'eem, asserted that performing alongside an Israeli constituted “a major provocation of Tunisians, Arabs, and Muslims,” and asked Chaari if he felt he was criminally liable. 

 When Chaari replied in the negative, the interviewer noted that the Yemeni lyricist had remained anonymous “because they knew the poem he wrote would get his head chopped off,” and then asked rhetorically, “So what shall be done with the head of the one who sang it?

On December 18, 2020, Chaari appeared on Channel 9’s nighttime talk show “For Night Owls Only,” and was lambasted by the host and panel members, who accused him of offending Tunisians and betraying the Palestinian cause, and even of abetting Israel's murder of Palestinians. Chaari, for his part, rejected the accusations and stood by his actions. 

After he refused to comply with the host's repeated demands to apologize for the song, the host threatened Chaari that all Tunisian artists would from now on boycott him. 

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