Alleged visits by Iraqi officials to Israel announced by the Jewish state stirred controversy Monday in Iraq, where the deputy parliamentary speaker demanded a probe to identify those who crossed a “red line”.
Israels foreign ministry said on Twitter on Sunday that three Iraqi delegations visited Israel in 2018, and details were also later released by media.
Baghdad does not recognize Israel, and is technically in a state of war with it.
First deputy speaker of parliament Hassan Karim al-Kaabi called in a statement for “an investigation… to identify those who went to the occupied territory, particularly if they are lawmakers”.
“To go to the occupied territory is a red line and an extremely sensitive issue for all Muslims”, the statement said.
Kaabi is close to Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, whose bloc won the largest number of seats in Iraqs legislative election last year.
Israels foreign ministry said on Twitter that the 15 Iraqi visitors were “influential Shiite and Sunni personalities in the country”, but did not give names.
The ministry said the Iraqi travelers had visited “Israeli officials and universities”, as well as the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.
A spokesman for the memorial told AFP that “a group of 10 Iraqis” had “undertaken a guided tour in late December”.
He said he was not able to give details on the identity and roles of the Iraqis.
In the same context, the Israeli researcher and journalist, Edy Cohen revealed the names of the Iraqi MPs who visited Israel among a number of delegations, adding in a previous statement that these delegations were official ones representing the Iraqi government.
In a tweet in Arabic, Cohen named the Iraqi lawmakers as Sunni Ahmed al-Jubouri, Ahmed al-Jarba, former MP Abdul Rahim al-Louwaizi, Abdulrahman al-Shammari who are all from Nineveh governorate and Khalid al-Mafraji from Kirkuk in addition to female lawmaker Aliaa Nassif, a Shiite from Baghdad.
هؤلاء النواب أو أشخاص من طرفهم كانوا ضمن الوفود التي زارت إسرائيل : ممثلين السنة
احمد الجبوري عن نينوى
احمد الجربا عن نينوى
عبدالرحمن اللويزي عن نينوى نائب سابق
عبدالرحيم الشمري عن نينو بالإضافة إلى
خالد المفرجي عن محافظة كركوك
وعالية نصيف عن بغداد شيعية.
نمد أيدينا لهم للسلام— ايدي كوهين אדי כהן (@EdyCohen) January 7, 2019
ALSO READ: Netanyahu says Israel is Arabs ally against Iran
Private Israeli TV station Hadashot, which described the Iraqis as “local leaders”, said Sunday that they had stressed they were not taking part in an official visit and that secrecy was paramount.
A significant Iraqi Jewish community lives in Israel and regularly calls for a normalization of ties between Baghdad and the Jewish state.
But the question remains sensitive and Israels support for an independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan in late 2017 provoked Iraqi officials ire.
Israel was the only country to back the vote, which Baghdad deemed illegal.
In 2017, a former Miss Iraq sparked a storm when she took a selfie with Miss Israel.
SHOW MORE
Last Update: Tuesday, 8 January 2019 KSA 23:23 – GMT 20:23
[contf]
[contfnew]
alarabiya
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
