Israel’s Groovy Train of normalization May Stop at The Iraq Station Next!

ALBAWABA – Which Arab country is likely to normalize with Israel next? Apparently, the groovy train of normalization may still continue under the Biden administration although unlike his previous man-in-the-White-House Donald Trump, the US government doesn’t appear to be all that keen to be widely involved.

The latest comments made by the Israel’s Minister of Regional Cooperation Essawi Freij is food for thought. He says without hesitation that the next state that will normalize with Israel is going to be Iraq. Iraq you may shout, that bastion state of nationalism.

Yes, it could be and mind you what the Arab minister in the current hodgepodge Israeli coalition cabinet that includes from the left to the extreme right, may be right because of the current political trends, Iraq included.

Take for example the normalization conference that was held in Erbil in northern Iraq at the end of last September. Although the Iraqi authorities arrested three who attended the venue and called for establishing relations with Israel – including an official in the Culture Ministry – the venue very much raises an eyebrow over the real intentions of Baghdad.

Why was the conference, which included its New York organizers and Chemi Peres, the son of the late Israeli president Shimon Peres, allowed to take place in Iraq of all places? Is something being cooked up here we don’t know about?

Iraq could well be the fifth Arab country to normalize after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco did in late 2020 and to the surprise of everyone. Ever since that time the names of Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman, Mauritania, Qatar, Somalia, Pakistan, Indonesia and God knows who else kept coming up! Maybe this was done for public relations branded by the outgoing Trump administration.

But to keep raising the Iraqi banter must beat them all! This is not only because of its traditional nationalism, its ethnic makeup, religious affiliations, political parties, different militias and off course relations with Iran. So to keep bringing up Iraq as a “normalizer” state could at best be insulting and downright rude.

But in politics anything is possible and you never know how people change. It has been social media galore with the Freij statement. Yes, we are on a groovy train! Iraqis have not been all that excited as one can expect because of their economic situation. However, one asked, why would Israel want to normalize with Iraq? Because of Iran came the reply!