DHAKA: New Tunisian tourism minister Amel Karboul resigned just hours after being sworn in amid controversy surrounding her 2006 visit to Israel.

Tunisia’s official news agency said on Wednesday, The Jerusalem Post publishes this report on Thursday.

At the close of her swearing in ceremony, Karboul denied having visited Israel, claiming she never entered ‘because of the pressure I had undergone for more than four hours at the border, because I am Arab and Muslim’, she was quoted as saying.

The tourism minister was scheduled to participate in a UN training program for Palestinian youths, but she reportedly left after one day following a lengthy interrogation at Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.

Karboul came under fire during a confidence vote, when several deputies critized her visit, the Tunisian agency reported.

BDST: 1821 HRS, JAN 30, 2014