Israel in Arabic, a Twitter account run by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, tweeted Jan. 6 that several Iraqi delegations had visited Israel in 2018, meeting with Israeli officials and touring the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry promptly denied having knowledge of any such visits.

Iraq's parliamentary speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi called Jan. 10 for the formation of a committee to investigate Israel's claims. Meanwhile, an Israeli author and commentator, Edy Cohen, claimed to have received a list of those Iraqis who visited Israel. All the Iraqis on this alleged list denied having traveled to Israel. Former member of parliament Ahmed Jarba told the media that the false report that he had visited Israel “seeks to tarnish [his] image.”

Alia Nassif, a member of parliament for the State of Law Coalition, said that the visits did not happen. “The news is fake and lacks evidence,” she told Al-Monitor. “There are political motives behind the news that seek to misrepresent my parliamentary role.” She speculated that a Kuwaiti journalist, Fajar Saeed, "who who calls for normalization with Israel, is probably behind mentioning my name, because of my standings toward Kuwaiti ambitions for Iraqi oil and territory.” 

The debate over the tweet has escalated throughout the past several weeks, as Iraq's ties with Israel have been thrown into question. The Iraqi government has not recognized the state of Israel since its establishment in 1948. Yet, during a Jan. 3 press conference, Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali al-Hakim stated that Iraq is in favor of the two-state solution to resolve the Palestinian crisis. This remark implied the recognition of the state of Israel, and was behind the State of Law Coalition's Jan. 5 demand to take strict action against him. Khalaf Abdul Samad, the head of the State of Law Coalition in parliament, told the press Jan. 5 that “Hakim’s remarks neither represent the Iraqi people nor the political forces.”