Iraq court orders arrest of 3 in connection with forum on ties with Israel

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi court on Sunday issued arrest warrants for three people accused of participating in a conference that called for normalization of ties with Israel.

Warrants have been issued for Wisam al-Hardan, Mithal al-Alusi, and Sahar Karim al-Tai, the Supreme Judicial Council announced. Legal measures will be taken against other participants in the conference when they are identified, the court added.

On Friday, more than 300 Iraqis - Sunnis and Shias from across the country - met in Erbil at a conference organized by a US think tank and called for normalization of ties with Israel.

“We demand our integration into the Abraham Accords,” Sahar al-Tai, an employee from Iraq’s Ministry of Culture, read from the conference’s closing statement, according to AFP. The Abraham Accords are a US-led Middle East peace initiative that saw Bahrain, Morocco, the UAE, and Sudan forge ties with Israel.

"Just as these agreements provide for diplomatic relations between the signatories and Israel, we also want normal relations with Israel," Tai said.

The conference was condemned by Baghdad and Erbil. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi called it “illegal” and said ties with Israel are constitutionally rejected. Spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Jotiar Adil said the conference was held “without our approval or knowledge” and does “not reflect the views and policies of the KRG.”

Al-Alusi, a former parliamentarian, told Rudaw that the conference called for “balanced relations between Iraq and the Israeli state,” but he himself was not in attendance.

Hardan, leader of the Sons of Iraq Awakening movement, had penned an op-ed published Friday in the Wall Street Journal, stating that the conference was to demand Iraq open ties with Israel.

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