Tunisian airline bans alcohol during Ramadan

The first of its kind. Ruining tourism -- and seen by liberals as the “forced Islamization of the country.” "TunisAir suspends serving alcohol on flights during Ramadan," by Monzer Beldiafi for Al Arabiya, July 22:

In the first initiative of its kind, the Tunisian flag carrier Tunis Air decided to ban offering alcohol in its flights during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, stirring anger of liberal activists who accused the government of Islamizing the country by force.

The decision was slammed by several Tunis Air senior employees as well as owners of hotels and travel agencies who complain of the negative impact the ban is bound to have on their businesses, especially that Tunisia is frequented by large number of European tourists.

Those working in the tourism sector expressed their concerns over potential future losses in the number of tourists especially that the country was experiencing a boom before Ramadan.

“Hotel occupancy reached 100 percent in June in Hammamet, Sousse, and the island of Djerba,” al-Habib Ammar, general manager of the Tunisian National Tourist Office, told Al Arabiya.

Ammar added that tourism in Tunisia was regaining its strength following the revolution that toppled the regime of former president Zein al-Abedine bin Ali.

“We had expected that tourism will be better this year than before the revolution.”

The ban also infuriated liberal activists who viewed it as an attempt towards the “forced Islamization of the country.”

Through a campaign they launched on social networking websites, those activists also slammed other similar decisions like the closure of restaurants and coffee shops during the day in Ramadan in what they saw as a flagrant violation of personal freedoms.

In the same vein, several restaurants and coffee shops close during Ramadan based on a decision issued by the Ministry of Interior, which was not the case during bin Ali’s secular rule....

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16 Comments

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LemonLime | July 22, 2012 5:47 PM | Reply

...Tunisia is frequented by large number of European tourists.

Well, this has got to stop. Not only in Tunisia, but in any of other number of Muslim countries where Westerners continue to gallivant -- Morocco, Egypt, the UAE, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Maldives... It's either Tourism or Terrorism. You can't have your falafel and eat it too.

Sooner or later, the free world is going to have to institute a global apartheid, by which the Islamic distinction between the Two Dars (the Dar-al-Islam and the Dar-al-Harb) is enforced, backed up by military teeth through an alliance of free nations around the world. I.e., there will have to be Two Worlds, not one, on Planet Earth. It would be nice if it were otherwise, but Miss Universe will just have to grow up and accept the fact that World Peace & Harmony is simply not possible, when you have millions of rabidly violent and intolerant fanatics flourishing all over the place.

Infidel replied to comment from LemonLime | July 22, 2012 7:46 PM | Reply

Well, once the Muslim Brotherhood gets to blow up the pyramids and the sphinx, it'll be goodbye non-Muslim tourism for Egypt - the only tourists who will go there will be Gulf Arabs who want to rent an Egyptian womb for the few days of their travel, and then return.

I just don't get who are the morons who go to UAE, Morocco, Maldives, Indonesia or even Malaysia. There are many more, and much finer beaches in the West, far better casinos in Vegas or Monte Carlo, and far better tropical getaways in FL, HI and the Caribbean.

So what is it about Dar ul Islam that makes people want to go there?

TJFREEDOMJIHAD replied to comment from Infidel | July 22, 2012 8:23 PM | Reply

Many morons I'm sure, recognize the implicit danger to their lives, in the "mild adrenaline trip junkies" while traveling to the "exotics", figure it can't happen to them, what're the odds, in their minds....then they wail when caught, while having their adrenalin fed vacation, on so far fairly rare occaisions. Some morons, are after exotic adventure, some are disbelieving the whole thing as basic pure morons, including Christian types, who believe if they are just considerate to each muslim, nothing will be done to them, they who are the unwitting unknowing, enemies of islam, all. Each is unknowingly available for plucking by the fundamentals, who care only for their book's dictates.

exsgtbrown | July 22, 2012 8:46 PM | Reply

"....in what they saw as a flagrant violation of personal freedoms. "

Removing personal freedoms and love of life is what Islam brings to the table...

tanstaafl | July 22, 2012 9:07 PM | Reply

Must be tough to be a diabetic Muslim during Ramadan.

dumbledoresarmy replied to comment from TJFREEDOMJIHAD | July 22, 2012 11:01 PM | Reply

The only Christians who have any business going to these sorts of places are those who - like Samuel Zwemer - know **all** about Islam before they start, know *exactly* how dangerous it is, have no illusions whatsoever, are rationally and coolly convinced that God wants them to go there (secular persons will not comprehend this in the least; I advise such people to read Corrie Ten Boom's The Hiding Place, or Jackie Pullinger's Chasing the Dragon, or David Wilkerson's 'The Cross and the Switchblade', or any account of 19th century missionary endeavour out *beyond* the swift and easy reach of any assistance from colonial powers) and have made their wills and said their goodbyes before they go, leaving strict instructions that if the worst happens, they do not expect to be rescued and ransoms are not to be paid.

dumbledoresarmy | July 22, 2012 11:08 PM | Reply

I have a cousin - a red-haired Irish-Scot Australian, of no religion - who has just trotted off to Malaysia for her honeymoon with her Vietnamese-Australian Buddhist husband.

When, before their wedding, they told me that that was where they planned to honeymoon, I simply stared at them in astonishment.

And then I said: what are you going to do if the Morality Police arrest you? You better have your Marriage Certificate on your persons at all times...

I didn't think to tell them to read the chapters about Malaysia in V S Naipaul's 'Among the Believers' and 'Beyond Belief', before they left...

When I see them next, I will have to ask them how they got on. And *then* I'll ask them if they've read V S Naipaul on Islam and Muslims in Malaysia, and if they haven't, I'll tell them they *must*. And I will tell them to read Mark Durie, 'The Third Choice'; and I will tell them that in Malaysia the Hindus, the Christians, the Sikhs, the Buddhists and the Taoists and Confucians are de facto dhimmis whose situation is worsening by the year.

Buraq | July 22, 2012 11:18 PM | Reply

Tunisian airline bans alcohol during Ramadan

The thick end of the Islamic wedge!

Clowns!

Steffen Larsen | July 22, 2012 11:54 PM | Reply

Never fear: my mother decided long ago never to revisit Tunesia.

The sight of men rubbing themselves in the presence of - let's middle-aged to elderly - female tourits was not amusing to her.

Beatrix | July 23, 2012 2:38 AM | Reply

In a free world an airline can offer you a better choice of food while an other will not, and you as a customer will choose based on your preferences.
If drinking a glass of wine is so important to you, and they do not offer wine, then select an other company who does.

If the managers of the company will see a decrease in their income of precious foreign currencies, they will probably try to be more "tourist-friendly".

Of course since this is not a "fair" world the Tunisian air authoritites will favour their home airlines with the best time slots, so this means you might have to fly Tunisian anyway if you wish to fly to Tunisia.

However if you are a turist you are not complelled to fly to Tunisia, with the favourable change USD-EUR and with Italy, Spaign, Greece in crisis you should be able to find favourable turistic packages ...

thomas_h replied to comment from LemonLime | July 23, 2012 4:23 AM | Reply

Sooner or later, the free world is going to have to institute a global apartheid, by which the Islamic distinction between the Two Dars (the Dar-al-Islam and the Dar-al-Harb) is enforced, backed up by military teeth through an alliance of free nations around the world.

"Free world"?
"Free nations"?

Do you mean the pack of billion, or so, nihilistic, hedonistic consumers too confused and scared to say "This is my country - the home of my people; the living, the dead and the unborn. I am willing to die defending it from aliens?"
Please show one, ONE, Western - not moslem, Asian, African - country, whose people can say that openly without fear of losing job and career and jeopardizing their and their family physical safety.

dumbledoresarmy replied to comment from Beatrix | July 23, 2012 4:56 AM | Reply

Don't forget Israel.

The compleat Middle Eastern experience - complete with camels, date palms, historical ruins and relics from every period from the Palaeolithic on through (the caves at Mt Carmel have just been listed by UNESCO).

There are even bellydancers - the Jewish women from Yemen were mistresses of the art, and have been teaching their Ashkenazi sisters.

And there is wine, and there are beaches.

And the security measures are second to none.

The 'adrenalin junkies' mentioned by TJ Freedom, above, could do worse than go to Israel; that way they can get their 'rush' (by paying a visit to Sderot, within rocket range of Jihad Fortress Gaza) and spend their tourist dollars where the money will do some good.

Keithmj | July 23, 2012 6:14 AM | Reply

Don't go to their frickin countries, screw them and the camel they rode in on. Why would anyone want to go to these places anyway. If people stopped respecting them then they might, but I don't think so, but they might get the hint. Don't visit any muslim stores or restaurants either, boycott muslims businesses. These people are sick. And have a beer or two while you are out buying your bacon.

thomas_h replied to comment from thomas_h | July 23, 2012 6:57 AM | Reply

Well, show me such a country and i i will agree that this is a free country. Otherwise i insist a free western country is a thing of the past. Perhaps with an exception of Israel...

ebonystone | July 23, 2012 9:02 AM | Reply

It beats me why any European would want to vacation in Tunisia. There are plenty of European countries that have warm beaches that are just as nice, and have better food and drink: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatis, and Greece come to mind. Plus spending one's euros in those countries would mean their economies would need less of a bail-out from the E.U.

FurryFreedom | July 24, 2012 4:57 AM | Reply

What a weird vacation choice. Isn't there enough to see in Europe or North America?

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