Arrest Warrants Issued for Three Iraqi Leaders Who Attended Conference Calling for Peace With Israel
Three prominent Iraqi leaders are facing arrest warrants after they participated in a conference that called for peace with Israel, Agence France-Presse reported Sunday.
The conference, held Friday in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, featured more than 300 attendees.
Organized by the US-based think tank the Center for Peace Communications, the conference called for Iraq to make peace with Israel and normalize relations with it in the context of the Abraham Accords.
The Iraqi government and other leaders were apoplectic at news of the conference, with the government calling it “illegal.”
Shia extremist cleric Moqtada Sadr demanded the participants be arrested, and pro-Iran MP Ahmad Assadi called them “traitors.”
Arrest warrants were quickly issued for tribal leader Wissam al-Hardan, Culture Ministry official Sahar al-Tai, and ex-MP Mithal al-Alusi, who all attended the conference.
Tai had addressed the conference, saying, “We demand our integration into the Abraham Accords.”
The Kurdish population of northern Iraq and the KRG are known for a more positive attitude toward Israel than is often seen elsewhere region.