(New York Times) Jane Arraf - A conference last Friday in Iraq's Kurdistan region called to normalize relations with Israel. Participants are now facing arrest warrants, death threats and the loss of jobs, but Kurdish authorities are refusing to turn over the wanted Iraqis who were their guests. Iraq is technically in a state of hostilities with Israel dating to Israel's founding in 1948. Iraqi law makes it a crime to "promote Zionist principles" and lists the punishment as death. The conference has triggered a sectarian skirmish between the mostly Sunni Muslim attendees and Iranian-backed Shiite paramilitary groups who have declared the attendees traitors.
2021-09-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive