Devil is in the Details of Iraq's New Law Criminalizing Normalization with Israel

Supporters of the leader of the Sadrist movement celebrate the adoption of a law criminalizing normalization with Israel in Baghdad (AFP)
Supporters of the leader of the Sadrist movement celebrate the adoption of a law criminalizing normalization with Israel in Baghdad (AFP)
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Devil is in the Details of Iraq's New Law Criminalizing Normalization with Israel

Supporters of the leader of the Sadrist movement celebrate the adoption of a law criminalizing normalization with Israel in Baghdad (AFP)
Supporters of the leader of the Sadrist movement celebrate the adoption of a law criminalizing normalization with Israel in Baghdad (AFP)

No sooner had Iraq's parliament approved the law against normalizing ties with Israel than issues arose amid fears of "conflicts" with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil.

On Thursday, 275 Iraqi lawmakers voted in favor of a bill criminalizing the normalization of ties and any relations, including business ties, with Israel. The legislation says that violation of the law is punishable with the death sentence or life imprisonment.

Experts fear the Iraqi parliament's decision would put the country on the list of countries that the US could target.

Some even indicated that Iraq had determined its position by joining the so-called "resistance front" against Israel, while others worry it might harm the country's relations with Arab and Islamic nations that have normalized relations with Israel.

However, several observers believe that the law will be counterproductive as it paves the way for normalization through special approvals from the Ministry of Interior for Jews who want to visit some Jewish monuments in Iraq.

According to several experts, the issue of normalization between Iraq and Israel was not up for discussion to have a law issued, especially since Iraq is going through serious problems and crises that should be addressed, notably the issue of forming a new cabinet.

Iraq is almost the only Arab country that participated in the war against Israel in 1948, despite not having shared borders. Regardless of its political systems, Baghdad remains at war with Tel Aviv because it did not sign the armistice agreement.

Iraq launched about 49 missiles at Israel during the war to liberate Kuwait in 1991.

The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, who proposed the law, asserted in a tweet that he is not hostile to religions but to extremism, terrorism, and injustice.

"We protect Christian and Jewish minorities, and you are expelling Arabs and Muslims. We condemn ISIS, and you support Western extremism," he added.

Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah hailed the law, while the UK announced it was barbaric, and the US said it was deeply disturbed by it.

"In addition to jeopardizing freedom of expression and promoting an environment of antisemitism, this legislation stands in stark contrast to the progress Iraq's neighbors have made by building bridges and normalizing relations with Israel, creating new opportunities for people throughout the region," read the State Department statement.

It asserted that the US would continue to be a strong and unwavering partner in supporting Israel, including as it expands ties with its neighbors to pursue greater peace and prosperity for all.

The new law will widen the rift between Iraq and Kurdistan, especially since the latter is accused of selling oil to Israel.

Advisor of Masoud Barzani Arafat Karam confirmed that the Kurdish vote in the Federal Parliament on a law criminalizing normalization with Israel does not mean Erbil has joined the resistance front.

Member of the State of Law Coalition Haider al-Lami told Rudaw that various parties tried to pressure Shiite figures into normalizing relations with Israel, which prompted those leaders to approve the new legislation.

Lami said there are no peace treaties between Baghdad and Tel Aviv, adding that Iraq is in a state of war with Israel.

The official explained that many reports claimed that several Kurdish figures had relations with Israeli politicians, but Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani denied it repeatedly.

Law expert Majid Majbas described the law as necessary, adding that Iraqi legislators have not recognized Israel and support the right of the Palestinian people to establish a state.

Majbas explained to Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the Iraqi Penal Code in Article 201 explicitly refers to the criminalization of all forms of cooperation with the Israeli entity, whether a "person who promotes or acclaims Zionist principles including freemasonry or who associates himself with, Zionist organizations or assists them by giving material or moral support or works in any way towards the realization of Zionist objectives."



Sudan’s Humanitarian Crisis Worsens amid Escalating Violence

FILE - People prepare local crops of sugar cane and watermelons for sale, at Abu Shouk refugee camp, where they live on the outskirts of El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, Oct. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/John Heilprin, File)
FILE - People prepare local crops of sugar cane and watermelons for sale, at Abu Shouk refugee camp, where they live on the outskirts of El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, Oct. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/John Heilprin, File)
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Sudan’s Humanitarian Crisis Worsens amid Escalating Violence

FILE - People prepare local crops of sugar cane and watermelons for sale, at Abu Shouk refugee camp, where they live on the outskirts of El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, Oct. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/John Heilprin, File)
FILE - People prepare local crops of sugar cane and watermelons for sale, at Abu Shouk refugee camp, where they live on the outskirts of El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, Oct. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/John Heilprin, File)

Fighting in Sudan's Kordofan region that has killed hundreds and ongoing violence in Darfur — the epicenters of the country's conflict — have worsened Sudan's humanitarian crisis, with aid workers warning of limited access to assistance.

The United Nations said more than 450 civilians, including at least 35 children, were killed during the weekend of July 12 in attacks in villages surrounding the town of Bara in North Kordofan province.

“The suffering in Kordofan deepens with each passing day,” Mercy Corps Country Director for Sudan Kadry Furany said in a statement shared with The Associated Press. “Communities are trapped along active and fast changing front lines, unable to flee, unable to access basic needs or lifesaving assistance.”

Sudan plunged into war after simmering tensions between the army and its rival, the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, escalated to fighting in April 2023. The violence has killed at least 40,000 people and created one of the world’s worst displacement and hunger crises, according to humanitarian organizations. In recent months, much of the fighting has been concentrated in the Darfur and Kordofan regions.

On Thursday, the UN human rights office confirmed that since July 10, the RSF has killed at least 60 civilians in the town of Bara, while civil society groups reported up to 300 people were killed, the office said.

A military airstrike on Thursday in Bara killed at least 11 people, all from the same family, according to the UN office. Meanwhile, between July 10 and 14, the army killed at least 23 civilians and injured over two dozen others after striking two villages in West Kordofan.

An aid worker with Mercy Corps said his brother was fatally shot on July 13 during an attack on the village of Um Seimima in El Obeid City in North Kordofan, Grace Wairima Ndungu, the group’s communications manager told AP.

Furany said that movement between the western and eastern areas of the Kordofan region is “practically impossible.”

The intensified fighting forced Mercy Corps to temporarily suspend operations in three out of four localities, with access beyond Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, now being in “serious doubt,” Furany said, as a safe sustained humanitarian corridor is needed.

Mathilde Vu, an aid worker with the Norwegian Refugee Council who is often based in Port Sudan, told the AP that fighting has intensified in North Kordofan and West Kordofan over the past several months.

“A large number of villages are being destroyed, burned to the ground, people being displaced,” she said. “What is extremely worrying about the Kordofan is that there is very little information and not a lot of organizations are able to support. It is a complete war zone there.”

Marwan Taher, head of mission with humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, told the AP that military operations in Kordofan heightened insecurity, prompting scores of people to flee to Darfur, a region already in a dire humanitarian situation.

The NRC said that since April, Tawila has already received 379,000 people escaping violence in famine-hit Zamzam Camp and Al Fasher.

Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration recently reported that over 46,000 people were displaced from different areas in West Kordofan in May alone due to clashes between warring parties.

Taher said those fleeing El Fasher to Tawila walk long distances with barely enough clothes and little water, and sleep on the streets until they arrive at the area they want to settle in. The new wave of displacement has brought diseases, including measles, which began spreading in parts of Zalingi in Central Darfur in March and April as camps received people fleeing Kordofan.

Aid workers also warned about ongoing fighting in Darfur. Vu said there have been “uninterrupted campaigns of destruction” against civilians in North Darfur.
“In Darfur there’s been explicit targeting of civilians. There’s been explicit execution,” she said.

Shelling killed five children Wednesday in El Fasher in North Darfur, according to UN spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay. Meanwhile, between July 14 and 15, heavy rains and flooding displaced over 400 people and destroyed dozens of homes in Dar As Salam, North Darfur.

With a looming rainy season, a cholera outbreak and food insecurity, the situation in Darfur is “getting worse every day and that’s what war is,” said Taher.