Palestinian groups hail Iraqi parliament’s ‘noble move’ to criminalize ties with ‘israel’

The Islamic Jihad movement said in a statement that the bill, floated by the political bloc of Iraq’s influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, is a major step toward fighting the Israeli occupiers’ efforts to infiltrate into Arab nations.

It said the approval of the draft bill reflects the popular position of Iraq in support of the Palestinian people’s rights and their sanctities.

“We salute the Iraqi parliament for taking a decisive stance at an important juncture to prove that the free Iraqi people stand with Palestinians and the resistance and are against any normalization with the Zionist regime – the main enemy of all Islamic nations,” the Islamic Jihad said.

In a separate statement, Hamas also supported opposition to the normalization of relations with Israel, calling the regime in Tel Aviv the common enemy of the Muslim Ummah (community) and a threat to their security and stability.

It urged the parliaments of other Arab countries to follow the Iraqi parliament’s “noble move” and approve similar laws to prevent normalization with the Tel Aviv regime.

“This move by the Iraqi parliament is indicative of the Iraqi nation’s zeal and their historical stance on supporting the Palestinian people,” the Gaza-based resistance group said.

On Wednesday evening, Iraqi lawmakers approved a draft bill banning any normalization of ties with Israel.

The Iraqi parliament’s information office said in a statement that the bill is meant to safeguard the national and Islamic principles in Iraq, given the grave dangers of normalization with the regime.

Back in September 2020, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed normalization deals with Israel. Morocco and Sudan later signed similar agreements with the Israeli regime as well.

The so-called Abraham Accords were pushed by the US under former president Donald Trump.

Palestinians have denounced the normalization deals, describing them as a “stab in the back” and a “betrayal” to their cause.

Back in late November last year, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry reiterated Baghdad’s support for the Palestinian cause, stressing that the Arab country categorically rejects any normalization scheme with the Israeli regime.

“We renew the stance of the Foreign Ministry, as it was known, Iraq’s firm and supportive stance towards the Palestinian cause and the implementation of the full legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and the categorical rejection of the issue of normalization with Israel,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Sahaf said in a statement carried by Iraqi News Agency at the time.

Sahaf noted that Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein had underscored the Palestinian people’s rights and Iraq’s rejection of any form of normalization with Tel Aviv during the IISS Manama Dialogue forum and other international meetings.

The foreign minister stressed “his saying of ‘No to Normalization’, whether in al-Manama conference or in several televised interviews,” the spokesman noted.