Oman criminalises ties with Israel and Israelis, despite rumours of normalisation

The Omani Consultative Assembly’s Deputy Chairman Yaqoob Al-Harthi, told colleagues on Friday that the new amendment: "expands the scope of the boycott stipulated in Article 1," noting that the proposed amendment includes a ban on any sports, cultural and economic contact between Oman and Israel, as well as the criminalisation of interacting with Israelis in person and online.”

Morocco, Sudan, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates have already normalised relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords, and as recently as November a senior Israeli official visited Oman in the hope of pushing for extended cooperation.

The meeting came after Washington attempted to pressure Oman to allow Israeli flights in its airspace after Saudi Arabia made a similar concession earlier this year. The ban on Israeli jets currently blocks several efficient routes between the Jewish State and South and East Asia.

Oman is the Arab world's oldest continuously independent state and is located at the Peninsula’s southern tip where the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf meet.

Unlike most other states in the region, Oman has never participated in any armed conflict with Israel.

While Muscat has never formally recognised Israel, unofficial trade relations were launched between the two in 1996 and ended during the Second Intifada in 2000.

Oman’s previous Sultan, Qaboos Bin Said, attempted to reshape Oman as the “Switzerland” of the region, welcoming three Israeli prime ministers for visits, while also dealing with rivals such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Yemen.

Following Sultan Qaboos’ death without issue in 2020, the throne was taken up by his cousin Haitham Bin Tariq.

While initially claiming he would mirror his late cousin’s peace-making approach, Sultan Haitham has since made overtures to Iran, with whom it shares the narrow maritime border across the Strait of Hormuz.

Since last summer, Oman has been in talks to increase non‑oil trade flows with Tehran, which continues to fund a vast network of terror groups across the Middle East, including Hezbollah and Hamas.

Expert Tom Gross, told the JTA on Tuesday that Muscat-Jerusalem relations will continue in an under-the-table manner, and that the vote to criminalise ties “was primarily designed to appease the Iranian regime.”

“There is a feeling in intelligence circles that the counter-revolutionary uprising in Iran has passed the point of no return and as a result, the regime in Tehran may try to externalise its domestic problems,” he continued.

Tehran conducts military activity miles off Oman’s coast and is currently experiencing a wave of disruptive protests against its theocratic regime.

Meanwhile Nir Boms, the director of the Program for Regional Cooperation at the Moshe Dayan Center of Tel Aviv University, suggested the vote was “potentially fuelled” by a number of Arab countries, including the UAE planning to condemn Israel at the United Nations over the appointment of Itamar Ben-Gvir as National Security Minister.

The Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) leader is a convicted racist and has advocated for the expulsion of Arab-Israelis who “are not loyal” to the state.