“Countries and media give special importance to the Palestine issue which is a key focus of conferences and meetings attended by our representatives and delegations abroad. Sometimes they or their full expression gets cut and there were some people distorting the principled position of Iraq," FM spokesperson Ahmed al-Sahaf said in a statement.
The foreign ministry did not name the outlet(s) it claims misrepresented Yasseen's comments. However, this week video clips on social media showed him speaking with state-run Al-Iraqiya (IMN) TV.
“We reiterate that the position of Iraq on the Palestinian issue is the same principled, historical position which rejects Israeli invasion and the rape of Arab land. Additionally, we do not establish any relations with the occupying state and we stand by our principle of boycott," the FM statement added.
Yasseen seemed to argue for some sort of relations between Baghdad and Tel Aviv in the video.
“There are objective reasons that call for the erection of relations between Iraq and Israel, including the presence of a significant Iraqi community in Israel,” he said in the video released this week.
However, he also acknowledged that objective factors are not enough to establish official ties with Israel because there are “moral and legal reasons which Iraqis comply with.”
Just two questions were asked in the five-minute clip. The video is not available on IMN's website.
Iraq officially has never recognized Israel since it declared independence in 1948 and was admitted into the United Nations as a member in the following year. Iraq recognized the State of Palestine in 1988. Palestine has observer status in the United Nations.
Jews have long and enduring roots in what is now present-day Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region. The Iraqi federal government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are forbidden from having diplomatic relations with Israel; however, cultural ties remain and the KRG has an office for a representative of the Jewish community in its Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs.
Between 1948 and 1951, more than 121,000 Jews left Iraq for the Holy Land in the so-called Operation Ezra and Nehemiah as Israel airlifted tens of thousands of Jews following the Iraqi government's intensified persecution following the establishment of the State of Israel.
Iraqi tensions flared in June when people stormed the Bahrain Kingdom's embassy in Baghdad. They were protesting the 'Peace for Prosperity' conference held by Jared Kushner in Bahrain. Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump is a senior White House advisor and tried to use to forum to advance an Israel-Palestine peace plan via investment.
