'Death on the Nile' withdrawn from Tunisian cinemas over Israeli actress

Tunisia has withdrawn from cinemas a new Agatha Christie adaptation starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot, following protests over "normalisation" with the Jewish state, officials said Wednesday.

British director Kenneth Branagh's "Death on the Nile", already banned in Kuwait and Lebanon for the same reason, will no longer be shown in cinemas across the North African country, the ministry's press office said.

Movie theatres had been showing the film since February 9 but, following protests, the ministry and the visual arts authority had agreed to ban it, activists and Tunisian media said.

"The main actress in the film is Israeli, was trained in the (Israeli) army and supports the colonisation of Palestinian territory," said Kaouther Saida Chebbi, head of an anti-Zionist woman's movement.

Cinemas in Tunis confirmed to AFP that they would no longer show the film.

Gadot had in 2014 posted on Facebook in support of Israel's offensive against Gaza.

The war left 2,251 dead on the Palestinian side, the majority of them civilians, and 74 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers.

Tunisia, which hosted the Palestinian Liberation Organization from 1982-1994, has a long history of backing the Palestinian cause.

In 2017 it banned Patty Jenkins' film "Wonder Woman", also starring Gadot.