The Imam of Drancy (Seine-Saint-Denis), Hassen Chalghoumi, is under the fire of criticism in Tunisia, his country of origin, after a controversial visit to Israel where he tried to kiss the hand of an Israeli minister. A gesture deemed “humiliating”.
The recent displacement of Hassen Chalghoumi in Israel in the middle of a massacre in Gaza arouses lively controversy in Tunisia, its country of origin. The Tunisians consider this trip to the Imam of Drancy as a frank support for the Israeli army. But the behavior of Chalghoumi who tried to kiss an Israeli minister, provoked the anger of Tunisians who consider this gesture “humiliating” and “undermining national sovereignty”.
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The Observatory of Transparency and Good Governance has announced that it will file a complaint against the imam for “high treason”, informs the Tunisian site webdo.tn. The Tunisian NGO believes that Imam Chalghoumi, by this visit to Israel and his displaced gesture, expressed his support for the Zionist government in the war in Gaza. Faced with this “betrayal”, she asks the Tunisian authorities to withdraw nationality from Hassen Chalghoumi and to translate it before the civil and military courts.
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In a video that has become viral on social networks, we see Drancy’s imam trying to kiss the Israeli Minister of the Interior, Moshe Arbel, during his visit to Israel last week. But the Israeli Minister withdrew his hand, recalls TSA Algeria. Imam Hassen Chalghoumi is known in France for his controversial positions. He defines himself as a follower of “interreligious dialogue”, in particular between Islam and Judaism, which leads some to qualify it as “Jewish Imam”.