the families of Palestinian martyrs, including suicide bombers. Since the 2003 war in Iraq In 2003, a US-UK led coalition of nations toppled Hussein's government in an effort called Operation Iraqi Freedom. Although Israel was not included in the coalition, there were indications of its support. According to John Kerry, Netanyahu (as a private citizen) was profoundly forward-leaning and outspoken about the importance of invading Iraq. It was reported in The Washington Post that Israel is urging United States' officials not to delay a military strike against Iraq's Saddam Hussein It was also reported that Israeli intelligence provided Washington with alarming reports about Iraq's alleged program to develop weapons of mass destruction. On the contrary, some have argued that Israel did not have much role in pushing for the war. According to former US Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, Israeli officials did not push their US counterparts to initiate the war in Iraq. In an interview with Ynet, Feith stated that "what you heard from the Israelis was not any kind of advocacy of war with Iraq" and that "[w]hat you heard from Israeli officials in private discussions was that they were not really focused on Iraq... [t]hey were much more focused on Iran." Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said in 2004 that Iraq would not reconcile its differences with Israel. On 1 July 2008, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak shook hands and met briefly with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at a conference of Socialist International in Greece. Barak and Talabani were both at the conference as representatives of their respective political parties, Labour and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Iraqi MP Mithal al-Alusi has twice visited Israel; once in 2004 and again in 2008, drawing protest from many in the Iraqi government. He has called for diplomatic relations and military intelligence sharing between Iraq and Israel. During the Gaza War (2008–09), the Iraqi government condemned Israel for the attack, stating that: "the Iraqi government demands a halt to the military operations, that civilians’ lives are not unnecessarily exposed to danger and requests that the international community honour its responsibilities and take the required measures to stop the attack". The Dawa Party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on Islamic countries to cut relations with Israel and end all "secret and public talks" with it. Also, the Iraqi Shia leader Ali al-Sistani, has called for decisive action by Arab and