Israel has been reaching out to US senators to pass the legislation that grants Sudan immunity from future terror-related lawsuits, Axios reported on Monday, citing a Congressional source. Sudan agreed to sign a normalization deal with Jerusalem in October.
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Israeli officials are concerned that the normalization process will be put on hold if the deal falls through, Axios reported, adding that it could negatively impact future normalization deals with other Arab states.
According to Axios, two weeks ago, when an Israeli delegation visited Khartoum along with adviser to the US ambassador to Israel Aryeh Lightstone, the chairman of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan reportedly asked Israelis to assist with the immunity bill in Washington.
Last week The New York Times reported that Sudan had marked the end of 2020 as the deadline to be taken off Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism.
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"The whole thing felt forced all along by an administration that wanted to use a terrorism designation as a political tool to try to get normalization with Israel," Director of the Middle East Security program at the Center for a New American Security Ilan Goldenberg told The New York Times.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
