Israeli research centre criticises Ghannouchi, hails Sisi

An Israeli research centre severely criticised the head of Tunisia’s Ennahda party and praised Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, Quds Press reported yesterday.

According to the news site, the Jerusalem Centre for the Study of Society and State described Rached Ghannouchi as “deceitful” regarding his latest announcement that politics and religion will be separated in his movement, stressing that this measure was taken to improve Ennahda’s image in the West.

In a paper published on the centre’s website on Monday, former Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Zvi Mazel said Ghannouchi “must have recognised Islam as a terrorist religion that could not be a basis for governance and the administration of political and social relations.”

He said Ghannouchi had “misled” the Western media which celebrated his announcement.

Meanwhile, Mazel praised Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, considering him the only Arab leader who “crushed the legend of the power of Islam.”

“Al-Sisi said what no one had dared to say before… when he stressed that Islam includes extremism that does not allow it to keep up with modernity.”