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| Iraq–Israel relations | |
|---|---|
| Country1 | Iraq |
| Country2 | Israel |
| Established | Not established |
| Status | No diplomatic relations; hostilities; occasional contacts via third parties |
Iraq–Israel relations are characterized by prolonged enmity, absence of formal recognition, episodic military confrontation, and rare covert contacts. Relations have been shaped by regional wars, ideological conflicts, transnational militancy, and shifts in Middle Eastern alignments involving actors such as Egypt, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and United States. Historical grievances, legal prohibitions, and public sentiment in Baghdad and Jerusalem have constrained bilateral engagement despite pragmatic interactions mediated through third parties.
Iraqi positions toward Zionism, United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, and the creation of State of Israel culminated in the 1948 1948 Arab–Israeli War, in which Iraq deployed forces alongside contingents from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. Subsequent episodes, including the Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War, reinforced antagonism; Iraqi air operations and deployments intersected with wider Arab coalitions involving Transjordan and Free Officers Movement figures. The 1973 Yom Kippur War saw political and material support from Baghdad to Cairo and Damascus, while the Iran–Iraq War era intersected with Israeli involvement in regional arms dynamics linked to Operation Opera debates and Rhodes Armistice Agreements legacies. The 1990–1991 Gulf War prompted direct hostilities through Iraqi missile strikes and countermeasures affecting Tel Aviv; postwar sanctions regimes under United Nations Security Council mandates and the 2003 Iraq War further altered trajectories. The 2010s and 2020s witnessed indirect recalibrations amid the Syrian Civil War, 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and normalization agreements such as the Abraham Accords that reshaped regional alignments.
No formal diplomatic recognition exists between Iraq and Israel; Iraqi constitutions and parliamentary laws have historically criminalized normalization following motions influenced by factions like Ba'ath Party cadres and Islamic Dawa Party figures. Iraqi foreign policy has alternated between pan-Arabist rhetoric associated with Saddam Hussein and sectarian calculations under post-2003 administrations linked to groups such as Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and political leaders in Baghdad who negotiate influence with Tehran. Multilateral forums—Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and United Nations General Assembly—have provided venues for Iraqi statements opposing Israeli policies in West Bank and Gaza Strip, while occasional backchannel contacts have involved intermediaries from Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, and Qatar.
Direct military clashes included Iraqi participation in 1948 and contingency planning during the Six-Day War; later, the 1991 Gulf crisis saw Iraqi Scud missile launches and Iraqi air defense alerts affecting Israel Defense Forces readiness. Iraqi support for anti-Israel militancy manifested through funding and transit involving proxies such as Palestine Liberation Organization splinters and logistical routes connected to Lebanon and Syria. During the Iran–Iraq War, regional arms transfers and clandestine logistics implicated countries like France, Soviet Union, and United States in complex supply chains touching Israeli strategic calculations. In recent decades, airstrikes attributed to Israeli Air Force in Syria and Iraqi airspace incidents have raised tensions linked to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps logistics and Hezbollah supply lines.
Covert activity has been a persistent feature: intelligence assessments, espionage, and sabotage operations by actors aligned with Tel Aviv and Baghdad interests have occurred via third-party services including Mossad-linked networks and regional security services from Jordan and Egypt. Notable incidents alleged in open sources involve targeted assassinations, arms interdictions, and electronic surveillance tied to efforts to disrupt Weapons of Mass Destruction proliferation and to counter Iranian influence in Iraq. Defectors, double agents, and declassified cables reveal episodic collaboration between Western intelligence agencies such as Central Intelligence Agency and regional partners on issues intersecting Iraqi-Iraeli concerns.
Formal trade links are nonexistent due to Iraqi legal bans and Israeli non-recognition; nevertheless, indirect economic flows have occurred via third countries including Cyprus, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan. Energy politics—oil exports from Basra and pipeline proposals—have factored into broader strategic calculations involving European Union markets and China investment patterns. Sanctions regimes, reconstruction contracts following 2003, and competition for foreign direct investment have shaped incentives and obstacles to commercial interaction, while smuggling networks and black-market commerce in border regions reflect informal economic overlaps.
Public attitudes in Baghdad and across Iraqi provinces have been strongly influenced by narratives of the Palestinian Nakba, Al-Quds symbolism, and anti-Zionist discourses propagated by state media under Saddam Hussein and post-2003 political actors including clerical networks centered in Najaf. Cultural exchange is virtually absent; however, diasporic memory among Iraqi Jews who migrated from Baghdad to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the mid-20th century links communities through shared heritage exemplified by institutions like Iraqi Jewish Archive and literary works by figures associated with Iraqi Jewish poets. Civil society and human rights organizations in Iraq occasionally reference Israeli-Palestinian dynamics in advocacy and media.
Iraqi stances toward Israel are embedded within larger regional rivalries among Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt. Mediation efforts have often been brokered by powers such as the United States, Russia, and Gulf intermediaries including Qatar and United Arab Emirates during ceasefire negotiations involving Gaza Strip confrontations. The shifting diplomacy exemplified by the Abraham Accords and evolving Iraqi ties with Tehran complicate potential rapprochement, while international legal frameworks under the United Nations Security Council and multilateral diplomacy continue to influence possible future pathways toward normalization or managed détente.
Category:Foreign relations of Iraq Category:Foreign relations of Israel