Iraq: Al-Halbousi Says Federal Government’s Decision to Terminate his Membership in Parliament is ‘Unconstitutional’

Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani meets with Speaker of Parliament Mohammad al-Halbousi on Wednesday. (The office of the Iraqi Prime Minister)
Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani meets with Speaker of Parliament Mohammad al-Halbousi on Wednesday. (The office of the Iraqi Prime Minister)
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Iraq: Al-Halbousi Says Federal Government’s Decision to Terminate his Membership in Parliament is ‘Unconstitutional’

Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani meets with Speaker of Parliament Mohammad al-Halbousi on Wednesday. (The office of the Iraqi Prime Minister)
Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani meets with Speaker of Parliament Mohammad al-Halbousi on Wednesday. (The office of the Iraqi Prime Minister)

Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Mohammed al-Halbousi said the Federal Supreme Court’s decision to terminate his membership in the House of Representatives was “unconstitutional”.

The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court on Tuesday terminated Halbousi’s tenure, state media said, in a shock decision that upends the career of Iraq’s most powerful Sunni politician and sets the stage for a fight over succession.

Al-Halbousi met on Wednesday with Prime Minister Mohammad Shia Al-Sudani to discuss the latest political developments and efforts to maintain political stability, according to a statement by the Iraqi prime minister.

The statement added that Al-Sudani underlined the importance of resorting to dialogue between the different political forces to resolve all emerging problems.

In a press conference later on Wednesday, Al-Halbousi said that based on the constitution, the MP’s membership ends in the event of death, resignation, felony, or illness.

He continued: “The Federal Court did not take into account all the conditions for terminating my membership in the House of Representatives... The Court, with its decision, violated the Constitution, and this is a dangerous matter...”

An informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the forces of the Shiite Coordination Framework and the State Administration Coalition began meetings on Wednesday evening, to discuss two main points, namely the termination of the membership of the Speaker of Parliament and the announcement of the leader of the Sadrist movement to boycott the local elections next month.

“If the Sunnis do not participate in the meeting as the third pillar of the pro-government ruling coalition, the fate of this coalition will be at stake for the first time a year after the formation of the current government headed by Mohammad Shiaa Al-Sudani,” the source remarked.

According to the same source, “the Kurds, who constitute the other important pillar of the coalition, will have a political stance on Al-Halbousi’s dismissal.”

He noted that the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Masoud Barzani, will declare its respect for the judiciary’s decision despite its previous problems with the Federal Court, which had excluded Barzani’s candidate for the presidency, former Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

The source believes that the ball is now in the court of the Shiite Coordination Framework, which must provide reassurances to the Kurds in the first place, and to the rest of the parties within the Sunni component.



Netanyahu Denounces Tactical Pauses in Gaza Fighting to Get in Aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
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Netanyahu Denounces Tactical Pauses in Gaza Fighting to Get in Aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized plans announced by the military on Sunday to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate aid delivery into the Palestinian enclave.

The military had announced the daily pauses from 0500 GMT until 1600 GMT in the area from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards.

"When the prime minister heard the reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him," an Israeli official said.

The military clarified that normal operations would continue in Rafah, the main focus of its operation in southern Gaza, where eight soldiers were killed on Saturday.

The reaction from Netanyahu underlined political tensions over the issue of aid coming into Gaza, where international organizations have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads one of the nationalist religious parties in Netanyahu's ruling coalition, denounced the idea of a tactical pause, saying whoever decided it was a "fool" who should lose their job.

DIVISIONS BETWEEN COALITION, ARMY

The spat was the latest in a series of clashes between members of the coalition and the military over the conduct of the war, now in its ninth month.

It came a week after centrist former general Benny Gantz quit the government, accusing Netanyahu of having no effective strategy in Gaza.

The divisions were laid bare last week in a parliamentary vote on a law on conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant voting against it in defiance of party orders, saying it was insufficient for the needs of the military.

Religious parties in the coalition have strongly opposed conscription for the ultra-Orthodox, drawing widespread anger from many Israelis, which has deepened as the war has gone on.

Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, the head of the military, said on Sunday there was a "definite need" to recruit more soldiers from the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox community.

RESERVISTS UNDER STRAIN

Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to halt the fighting still appears distant, more than eight months since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israel triggered a ground assault on the enclave by Israeli forces.

Since the attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners in Israeli communities, Israel's military campaign has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, and destroyed much of Gaza.

Although opinion polls suggest most Israelis support the government's aim of destroying Hamas, there have been widespread protests attacking the government for not doing more to bring home around 120 hostages who are still in Gaza after being taken hostage on Oct. 7.

Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials said seven Palestinians were killed in two air strikes on two houses in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip.

As fighting in Gaza has continued, a lower level conflict across the Israel-Lebanon border is now threatening to spiral into a wider war as near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia have escalated.

In a further sign that fighting in Gaza could drag on, Netanyahu's government said on Sunday it was extending until Aug. 15 the period it would fund hotels and guest houses for residents evacuated from southern Israeli border towns.