Iraq rejects local calls for normalizing ties with Israel

The Iraqi government on Saturday declared its rejection of local calls for normalization of relations with Israel as such a move is “prohibited by the Iraqi laws”.

A statement by the media office of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi confirmed that “the concept of normalization is constitutionally, legally, and politically rejected in the Iraqi state, and that the government clearly expressed Iraq’s firm position in support of the Palestinian right in establishing an independent state with al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital.” The government’s statement came in response to what it alleged the “illegal meeting raising the slogan of normalization with Israel” held by some Iraqi tribal figures in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.

“The government confirms that the meeting does not represent the Iraqi cities and their people while only represent the positions of those who participated in the meeting,” the statement added. On Friday, hundreds of Iraqi individuals from several Iraqi provinces held a meeting in Erbil, calling on Iraq to join the Abraham Accords and establish diplomatic relations with Israel.