Supporters of Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr celebrate in Baghdad following the passage of legislation by the Iraqi parliament criminalizing contact with Israel. Photo: Reuters/Ameer Al-Mohammedawi/dpa

Iraq’s parliament has passed legislation that would make contact between Iraqi citizens and Israelis a crime punishable with a lifetime prison sentence or even the death penalty.

At a session attended by 275 members of the 329-seat Iraqi parliament on Thursday, the legislative body voted in favor of a bill with the title “Criminalizing Normalization and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity.” Earlier drafts of the legislation had used the word “Banning” instead of “Criminalizing,” the Kurdish news outlet Rudaw reported.

The bill outlaws “contact and communication of any kind and means with the occupying Zionist entity, its nationals, and representatives, whether individuals or institutions or organizations, for any reason.” Also prohibited are any “financial or moral assistance” to the State of Israel or Israeli organizations, alongside the “promotion of any ideas, ideologies, principles, or Israeli or Zionist conduct, in any form.” Those found guilty of breaching the law would face “execution or lifelong imprisonment.”

In a statement issued after the bill was passed, the Iraqi parliament said its vote “represents a true reflection of the will of the people, a brave national decision, and a position that is the first of its kind in the world in terms of criminalizing the relationship with the Zionist entity.”

It added: “Therefore, we call on the Arab and Islamic parliaments to issue similar legislation that meets the aspirations of their peoples.”

The prominent Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, whose party won a plurality of seats in last October’s elections, hailed the bill’s passage as a “great achievement.” Moments after the law passed, several parliamentarians reportedly chanted, “No, no to normalization! No, no to Israel! Yes, yes to Iraq!”

The legislation stands in stark contrast to the broader trend among Arab and Islamic countries to reach peace agreements with Israel following a century of conflict. Four Arab nations — the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco — have arrived at peace deals with Israel during the last two years.

Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Washington, DC,-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), described the legislation as “absurd.”

“By prohibiting Iraqi citizens and residents from communicating with Israelis, Iraq’s parliament showed that it has a long way to internalizing democracy,” Abdul-Hussain told The Algemeiner in an email. “Criminalizing ties with Israel is absurd in a state that has no ties with Israel. It is even more absurd that the Iraqi parliament, which has failed to elect a president or designate a prime minister since the elections were held in October, found enough time to create a bogeyman out of a non-pressing issue like Iraq’s ties with Israel.”

Abdul-Hussain observed that the prospect of the death penalty for contact with Israelis “puts at risk the lives of millions of Iraqi expats who live outside Iraq and work in non-Iraqi companies that might conduct business with Israeli companies or nationals.” He pointed out that in “the UAE alone, which has comprehensive business ties with Israel, live 100,000 Iraqis who will have to balance out their interests and those of the companies they work for with the legal liability they might face in their home country.”

The law will apply to the entire territory of Iraq, including the autonomous Kurdish region in the north, which last September hosted a conference during which Sunni and Shia leaders urged peace with Israel. Among the speakers at the conference was Chemi Peres, son of the late Israeli statesman Shimon Peres.

In 2017, following a 92 percent vote in favor of Kurdish independence during a referendum held in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Iraqi parliament passed legislation making the display of “Zionist symbols” — such as the Israeli flags displayed by many Kurds at independence rallies — a criminal offense. Israel was among a tiny handful of countries to recognize the vote’s outcome before Iranian-backed paramilitaries successfully crushed the Kurdish independence bid.