The Iraqi parliament convened on Wednesday and elected the members of the legal committee. As its first work, the committee examined the “Banning Normalization and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity” bill, which was later sent to the MPs to discuss.
The legislature gave the first reading to the bill, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
The bill requires almost all officials, including those in Kurdistan Region, government institutions and media to refrain from establishing relations with Israel.
The main part of the bill criminalizes the normalization of relations with the “Zionist entity,” a reference to Israel, in addition to “banning of the establishment of diplomatic, political, military, economic, and cultural relations and any other sort of relations with the invading Zionist entity.”
This comes weeks after prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a top winner of the country’s October parliamentary elections, called on members of his Sadrist bloc to introduce such a bill.
Sadr said that the "issue of normalization and Israeli ambitions to dominate our beloved Iraq" was one of the core reasons for the Sadrist Movement’s involvement with the electoral process again.
The normalization of ties with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords is a US-led joint Middle East peace initiative. Four countries - the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Bahrain, and Morocco - have announced normalization agreements with Israel, with America's support.
A conference advocating for Iraq to join the Abraham Accords was held in the Kurdistan Region's capital of Erbil in September and was attended by more than 300 Sunnis and Shiites from across the country.
Widespread condemnation from Baghdad and Erbil struck the conference, with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi calling it "illegal" and saying that the concept of normalization with Israel is illegal as per the Iraqi constitution.
Sadr also expressed his staunch rejection of the conference. He said Erbil "must forbid such terrorist Zionist meetings" and called on the Iraqi government to arrest all who attended, threatening to take action himself.
Days after, an Iraqi court issued arrest warrants for three people accused of participating in the conference.
The bill comes nearly two months after Iran fired a dozen ballistic missiles targeting the residence of the CEO and founder of the Iraqi-Kurdish oil company KAR Group Baz Karim Barzinji, who built the Kurdistan independent pipeline to Turkey. The attack was carried out under the pretext of striking an Israeli base.
However, a report by the Iraqi parliament’s fact-finding committee later said that it found no evidence to support the Iranian accusations, adding that Barzinji’s residence was neither an Israeli base nor was he involved in any form of political activity or movement.
The Kurdistan Region and Israel do not have diplomatic relations, but have enjoyed friendly ties. Israel has purchased Kurdish oil and backed the 2017 independence referendum.
Hours before the Iraqi parliament discussed the bill, Al Jazeera’s veteran journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, was shot in the face by Israeli forces, according to the broadcaster
