René Trabelsi is originally from Djerba, is a businessman and Tunisian politician, also having French nationality.
Early career
He did his secondary studies in Djerba and then went to France to continue his studies in management in 1985, at a time when Jews were particularly threatened: one of his nephews aged 5 died in an anti-Semitic shooting in Djerba. Having dual French and Tunisian nationality, he first manages franchise Franprix supermarkets in Ile-de-France before embarking on tourism. In the 1990s, he founded the tour operator Royal First Travel which specializes in Tunisia. He is also a member of the Ghriba Pilgrimage Commission, manages a four-star hotel in Djerba for ten years and is involved in the Tunisian Hotel Federation.
Political career
In 2011, he made a passage through the Party of the Future. On 5 November 2018, during a cabinet reshuffle, the head of the Tunisian government, Youssef Chahed, appointed him to head the Ministry of Tourism to replace Selma Elloumi. The appointment of a Jewish minister is a first since 1957 and the nominations of Albert Bessis and André Barouch. It is the end of 2018 the only Arab country to count a Jewish minister. His appointment creates a controversy and protests occur in the days following it. Hundreds of demonstrators denounce the supposed "pro-Zionist positions" of René Trablesi. The Tunisian Minority Support Association denounces a campaign of defamation against the new minister. His appointment is, however, welcomed by Tunisian actors and specialists in tourism, who appreciate the arrival of a professional in the sector. On 12 November, MPs put their trust in all the proposed ministers, including Trabelsi, who won 127 votes to 25 and one abstention. In January 2019, another controversy affected him, rumors accusing him of giving a television interview to I24news, an Israeli channel, during which he discusses the Palestinian situation and the possibility of normalization with Israel. He denies this information that the interview, conducted at the request of the Palestinian ambassador in Tunis, was conducted by a Tunisian team for SCOPAL, a British information platform. From September 2019, he sits on the Executive Board of the World Tourism Organization on behalf of Tunisia.
Private life
René Trabelsi is the son of Perez Trabelsi, chairman of the Jewish Ghriba Committee and leader of the Jewish community in Djerba. Father of three children, he lives between Paris, Djerba and Tunis.
