Oman’s Lower House Votes To Expand Country’s Boycott of Israel

The lower house of Parliament in Oman voted to expand the country’s boycott of Israel. The Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Assembly, an 86-member elected body, in a vote on Monday amended its Israel boycott law to include contact in the areas of sports, culture and economics and to ban both in-person and online interactions with Israelis and with the “Zionist entity,” according to Oman’s WAF news agency. The Assembly Vice President Yaaqoub Al-Harethi said in a statement on Monday that that the amendment will “expand the criminalization and expand the boycott of this entity.” Israel and Oman do not have diplomatic relations, and Omani law prohibits its citizens from making contact with entities or individuals based in Israel directly or through mediators for any purpose. Israel has been working to convince Oman to allow civilian airplanes coming from Israel or carrying Israelis on board to fly though its airspace; the extra effort comes after Saudi Arabia, another country that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, allowed Israeli planes to fly through its airspace. It has been speculated that Oman would be one of the next Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords.