Human rights organizations remain silent over Iraqi arrest warrants for those who call for peace with Israel

Sahar Karim Al-Ta'i speaking to the Erbil conference

On Sunday, I reported about Iraq issuing arrest warrants against Iraqis who attended a conference in Erbil that called for normalization between Iraq and Israel. 

I have not seen news of any actual arrests yet, but one of the speakers has been fired for her government job.

Iraq's Minister of Culture, Hassan Nazim, issued a statement saying, “It was decided to dismiss Sahar Karim Al-Nusairi (Ta'i), an employee with the title of Senior Researcher at the General Authority for Antiquities and Heritage, from her job, based on the provisions of Article VIII / A of the Law of Discipline of State and Public Sector Employees No. 14 of the year 1991 revised; for her actions that contradict the rules of professional conduct and represent violations of Iraq’s laws and political orientations, which makes her employment in the job harmful to the public interest.”

Sahar had told Times of Israel, “We can live under the repression of terrorism or we can die with courage.”

Here was her speech: (h/t Yoel)

Four days after the news of the arrest warrants, so-called "human rights organizations" have remained completely silent over Iraqi repression. Their vaunted protection of freedom of expression does not reach the expression of brave Arabs who call for peace with Israel, and the silence from these self-appointed moral guardians of the world is effectively support for the Iraqi government's policies of repression.

The reason is obvious. These human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty never supported the idea of normalization between the Arab world and the Jewish state, since they regard Israel as a criminal nation. They support antagonism between Arab nations and Israel because that is their own position. They will not be caught dead promoting the human rights of Arabs who support peace with Israel.

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