Iraq Objects to Mention of ’State of Israel’ in Arab Parliamentary Conference

The objection was raised by Iraq's Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi who also condemned a few Arab countries’ normalization of ties with the occupying regime.

“The Speaker of Parliament, Muhammad al-Halbousi, registered his objection to the mention of the name ‘State of Israel’ in the final statement,” the Iraqi News Agency (INA) quoted Halbousi’s office as saying on Saturday.

Halbousi, as his office said, stressed "the replacement of the description with the 'occupying Israeli entity',” during the emergency conference of the Arab Parliamentary Union on the situation in Palestine, which is currently being held in Cairo.

“We are facing great challenges that require all of us to take a firm, decisive and real stance that rises to the level of necessity and need,” Halbousi said.

"The escalation has reached to extremes and cannot be tolerated, neglected, or delayed, and today, as representatives of the will of our peoples, we bear moral and religious responsibility before political and official responsibility, and we are called upon by chivalry before interest and need, and conscience before duty," he added.

Halbousi said the status of al-Quds and the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly the holy Muslim and Christian sites, require an Arab position that works to activate international resolutions issued in favor of the Palestinian cause.

“All of this requires us to mobilize and also organize serious political movements in international and regional forums … to achieve a new international position that will have a positive and clear impact on the reality of the Palestinian cause,” he underlined.

The senior official also expressed the Iraqi parliament’s determination to pass laws barring Baghdad from normalizing relations with the Tel Aviv regime.

"The Iraqi parliament has taken its courageous decision to proceed with legislation prohibiting normalization with the usurping and occupying Zionist entity as a real and clear reflection of the will of the Iraqi people, who have for decades considered the Palestinian issue at the top of their national and Islamic priorities," Halbousi said.

The political bloc of Iraq’s influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had previously announced readiness to submit a bill criminalizing the normalization of ties with Israel.

Sadr’s coalition won more than 70 seats in the October parliamentary election.

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

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

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

Late 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 Tel Aviv regime.