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Former Iraqi MP Mithal Al-Alusi said in a September 13, 2020 interview on UTV (Iraq) that while Israel has won wars and expanded, the Iraqis have failed to build a successful state and economy. He said that Iraq should be able to defend itself before defending the Palestinians, that Gaza and the PA are Israel's number one partners since Israel gives them money and electricity, and that the UAE and Bahrain have exercised their sovereignty by signing peace deals with Israel. He also said that if anybody wants to go fight Israel, he would "donate a few pennies" to help them leave Iraq and enter the Golan Heights or Lebanon. In a September 14, 2020 interview on Salahaddin TV (Iraq), Al-Alusi also said that in his view, the almost one million Iraqi Jews in Israel are Iraqi citizens. He also said that peace is the language of the future and that anybody who wants to fight Israel should not do so at Iraq's expense. He added: "If you want Iran, go to Iran. If you want Hizbullah, go to Hizbullah."
September 13, 2020
Mithal Al-Alusi: "Following the failure of the corrupt Ottoman state that had colonized the region, the various countries turned to national boundaries, in keeping with the Sykes-Picot Agreement and at the behest of the international powers that won the first and second World Wars. So our countries and our national borders that are dear to us and which we rightly defend-as dictated by our national duty-are also the outcome of international circumstances and developments.
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"As the late [former Iraqi MP] Nuri Al-Said said: 'The buses and guns are here, take them and go fight [in Palestine].' If someone wants to go and fight in Israel, or Afghanistan, or anywhere else, he has the freedom of movement, and I personally would be ready to donate a few pennies to help him get to the Golan Heights or Southern Lebanon. The State of Israel has expanded. It has waged wars, won them, and built the state. We, on the other hand, have failed. All of us. We have failed to build a state, an economy, and independent capabilities, that would provide services for the citizens, and defend the countries that are dear to us. In other words, if we want to be able to defend the Palestinians, we must first defend our own countries and our own families, and only then go to defend our neighbors. We must keep one important thing in mind: Israel's number one partner is the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority. This is also true for Gaza. From where does Gaza get money and electricity?
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"What the UAE and Bahrain did was exercise their sovereignty. I wish to see sovereign Iraqi decision-making, and decisions made by Iraqis and not dependent on foreign powers."
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September 14, 2020
Al-Alusi: "There are over half a million-maybe 700,000 Jewish Iraqi-Israelis. There are not that many Persian-Iraqis, Syrian Iraqis, Iraqi-Turks, or Kuwaiti-Iraqis..."
Interviewer: "They number almost one million..."
Al-Alusi: "More like 700,000 Jewish Israeli-Iraqis. In my view, these are Iraqi citizens. Whether there should be peace or not is up to the state, but in my view, these are all Iraqis. It is inconceivable that a community that had lived in Iraq for 2,000 years are not Iraqis and someone whose father or mother got married in Tehran, Turkey, or Saudi Arabia is? They are all Iraqis for as long as they say they are.
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"I believe peace to be the language of the future. It is the language of civilization and reason. The wars, AK-47s, DShK machine guns, and RPG-7s that they parade around do not build anything. Look where they got us. Besides, if these brothers want to fight Israel, they should go and fight it, but do not fight Israel by hijacking Iraq's citizens, or by gobbling up the Iraqi budget along with the Central Bank of Iraq. Do not fight Israel by destroying Iraqi universities. If you want to fight Israel, go! Lebanon and Syria are over there.
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"We have become isolated. If you want Iran, go to Iran. If you want Hizbullah, go to Hizbullah."
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