Tunisian President Kais Saied made antisemitic remarks Monday evening, claiming that a secret “Zionist” influence was evident in the name given to Storm Daniel, the deadly storm that wreaked havoc earlier this month in Libya, Greece and elsewhere

Storm Daniel, the deadliest Mediterranean storm ever recorded, killed over 3,000 people in Libya floods, with over 10,000 others still missing

“Did they not wonder about the naming? Daniel is a Hebrew prophet,” Saied said in video remarks from his office carried by local media

“The Zionist movement has penetrated to attack the mind and thinking, from Daniel to Abraham,” he added

The last part was a reference to the Abraham Accords, the name for the series of US-brokered normalization agreements in recent years between Israel and Arab states, which Tunisia vehemently opposes[…]
Saied has previously been embroiled in an antisemitism controversy

In 2021, the Conference of European Rabbis charged that he had accused Jews of being responsible “for the instability of the country,” during a discussion with residents of Mnihla, a suburb of the capital Tunis, over protests concerning the economic situation in the country

In a video uploaded to the Facebook page of the Presidency of Tunisia, Saied was heard denouncing the protests, which he said were the work of divisive forces Then he added a phrase that sounded like “al yahood,” or “the Jews” in Arabic

The president’s office at the time denied the allegations, denouncing the “propagation of false information” and saying it amounted to “calumny”