EE FR FREE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR 26 May 2022
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25 Iyar 5782
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Issue No.1264
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@JewishNewsUK
the Souvenir supplement celebrating our Platinum Monarch’s 70 years on the throne – see inside
Iraq to kill citizens with links to Israel
British government in urgent talks with Baghdad over brutal new law, following Jewish News appeal EXCLUSIVE by Jenni Frazer @JenniFrazer
The UK government dramatically intervened last night over new Iraqi legislation that will see any citizen who makes contact with Israel or Israelis face the death penalty. Baghdad aims to rubber stamp its new “anti-normalisation” law within days, which threatens either execution or life imprisonment to anyone having even minimal contact with Israel or Israelis. It is likely to have a far-reaching effect as it covers foreign nationals in Iraq and Iraqi nationals outside Iraq. The drafting extends to Iraqis visiting Israeli embassies or Israeli-linked organisations overseas. Britain’s Baghdad-born education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, a strong supporter of Israel, could be affected. Following a concerted campaign by Jewish
News, urging the UK government to take a stand on behalf of the Jewish community, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told this newspaper last night: “We are deeply concerned by reports that the Iraqi Parliament is planning to criminalise normalisation of relations with Israel, including by death. “We are monitoring the situation closely and making representations to the Iraqi authorities. The UK stands with the Jewish community and we have a long-standing track record of standing up for the rights of people of all religions and all beliefs.” It is rare for the UK to criticise a foreign government’s domestic policies in this way. The proposed law, which has had two readings in the Iraqi parliament and which analysts said would be “nodded through” later this week, also drew an angry response from Steve McCabe MP, chair of Labour Friends of Israel. In a letter to Foreign Secretary Truss, he described the legislation as “outrageous and extremely
Iraqis burn the Israeli flag in the centre on Baghdad. Inset: Foreign secretary Liz Truss
troubling”. He said that the move “flies in the face of recent positive trends in the Middle East” and that its timing, in the week that Britain hosted the spring conference of the IraqiBritish Business Council, was “deeply Together
with a embarrassing”. The bill, been described as “barbaric”, is entitled Banning Normalisation and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity. It would be the most punitive Continued on page 2
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