Iraq bans citizens from interactions with Israel

From this month Iraqi citizens are forbidden from contacting Israeli officials on social media, attending gatherings organised by or even “tied to” the Jewish state or setting foot in any Israeli embassy worldwide.

The Iraqi parliament’s expansion of a law criminalising relations with Israel, its first significant decision eight months after a general election, has generated outrage from Israel and other countries. Under the widening of the 1969 law, the worst offenders face life in prison or a death sentence.

The expansion of the law was aimed at neutralising criticism by Sadr’s Tehran-backed rivals who have questioned the nationalist credentials of the mercurial cleric and his Sunni and Kurdish allies.