PrintIraqis warming to Israel?
Apparently, some are. More concerned with the threat from Iran, some Sunnis, at least, are privately talking about warming uip to Israel. Israpundit quotes a Knight—Ridder dispatch:
Since results from Iraq's national assembly election trickled out this week showing that Shiite Muslims —many backed by neighboring Iran — would dominate the new parliament, Sunni Muslims have begun to ask: Is Israel really Iraq's enemy, or is it neighboring Iran?
Sunnis are often not comfortable talking openly about Israel, especially in a region where most Arabs won't refer to it by name and blame Israel for the conflict with the Palestinians. But privately many said Israel has not done anything lately to harm them; Iran has.
Apparently the memory of Iraq's eight—year war with Iran in the 1980s and the more recent attempts by Iran to influence Iraq's majority Shiite population have overwhelmed recollections of Israel's 1981 bombing of a French—built nuclear reactor near Baghdad. [....]
Mithal al Alusi just ran a campaign for a seat on the new parliament while calling for stronger ties between Israel and Iraq, and appears to have won a seat.
In May 2004, al Alusi publicly admitted to visiting Israel the year before and faced repeated assassination attempts apparently provoked by the visit. His only two sons were assassinated in January because of his support of Iraqi—Israeli cooperation, he said.
But he said that some Iraqis are warming to a stronger relationship with Israel, in part because they are frightened of Iran's influence.
