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preface
Kurds and Jews see each other as natural allies in the region because they "share similar histories and common enemies." There are three main reasons for Israel's growing approach to the Kurds.
In 722 BC and 586 BC, the Assyrian Empire and the Neo-Babylonian kingdom deported and exiled Jews to present-day Iraq during their occupation of Jerusalem. Before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, there were 187 Jewish communities in the Middle East, of which 146 were in Iraq, 19 in Iran, 11 in Turkey, and 11 in Syria and elsewhere. Among them, the population of Iraq's largest Jewish community reached 125,000. Jewish Kurds total 25,000~30,000 people, of which about 22,000 are in Iraqi Kurdistan, mainly speaking Neo-ramaic.
In the early 50s of the 20th century, most Iraqi Jews, including Jewish Kurds, immigrated to Israel. There are still about 50,000 Jewish Kurds in Israel. In the mid-90s, Yitzhak Mordechai, who served as defense minister in Netanyahu's government, was an Iraqi-born Kurd. The two peoples are in a similar situation, both have tragic historical circumstances, and both have long struggled to establish a nation-state.
Before the 1st century AD, the Jews were state-established several times, destroyed several times, and the Jewish people were expelled several times from Iraq to Palestine, from Palestine to Egypt, and from Egypt back to Palestine. After the 1st century AD, Jews were almost completely expelled from the Middle East by the Romans and dispersed around the world. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that he returned to Palestine, and in 1948 the dream of statehood was realized. Although the Kurds have not suffered several diasporas and pogroms like the Jews, and are in a corner, they have always been under foreign rule, have not established their own country, and cannot control their own destiny.
Jews and Kurds have common contradictions
Most importantly, after World War II, both Jews and Kurds shared common contradictions and enemies with other peoples in the region, and strategic mutual needs brought them together. After World War II, Arabs became almost a common enemy of Jews and Kurds. After 1979, the Islamic regime in Iran also became their common enemy. Israel pursues a "peripheral concept," looking for potential strategic allies around the Arabs, with the Kurds as its natural allies. Zionists allegedly established contacts with the Kurds before the establishment of the State of Israel.
Rowan Shiloh, who served as the head of Israel's intelligence agency after the founding of the People's Republic of China, was active in Kurdistan as early as the 30s of the 20th century, weaving a network of contacts. In the early 60s of the 20th century, when the Iraqi civil war broke out, the Kurds' combat effectiveness attracted Israel's attention, so Israel decided to ally with the Kurds to deal with Israel's "most enduring enemies" - Iraq and Syria. Israel not only trains Kurds, but also helps Jewish Kurds to secretly flee to Israel.
Eliezer Tsafrir, a former Mossad official, revealed that during the 1963~1975 Iraqi civil war, Israel provided military advisers to Mullah Mustafa and helped him train personnel and provide military assistance such as light weapons and anti-aircraft artillery. In 1963, Israel began supplying weapons and ammunition to the Kurds. In August 1965, Israel established a training camp for Kurdish officers, codenamed Marvad. In 1965, David Kimche, one of the founders of the Mossad, visited the Kurdish region of Iraq and met with Mullah Mustafa.
The mullahs requested assistance from Israel. Upon his return to Israel, Kimzi urged the Israeli government to support the Kurds, suggesting that the Arab encirclement be broken through relations with non-Arab peoples and countries such as Iran, Turkey and Kurds. Subsequently, together with the United States, Israel provided armed training to the Kurds, as well as agricultural and scientific and technological technical assistance. In June 1966, Mullah Mustafa secretly visited Israel and held talks with the Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. Mullah Mustafa visited Israel twice, in September 1967 and September 1973, where he met with Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Dayan.
The Kurds defeated the government army
Israeli television now often shows mullah Mustafa hugging Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan in the 60s. In June 1966, the Kurds met in the Mt. Sindarin Mountains. Hindarin) defeated government forces because of the help of Israeli advisers. In August 1966, an Iraqi Air Force MiG defected to Israel with the help of Iraqi Kurds. After the 1967 Six-Five War, Israel expanded its assistance to the Kurds, reaching nearly $500,000 a month in cash and providing weapons assistance.
In the late 60s of the 20th century, the intelligence agency of the Kurdish Democratic Party, Palladin, was also formed with the help of the Mossad and the Iranian intelligence agency "Savak". In 1980, Israeli Prime Minister Begin publicly admitted that in addition to humanitarian aid, Israel had secretly provided military assistance to the Kurds, such as supplying weapons and sending military advisers. In 1973, during the "October War", Israel asked Mullah Mustafa to attack Iraqi oil fields, and the Kurds agreed and carried out the attack, dragging down the Iraqi army to some extent.
It is worth mentioning that thanks to Israel's help, Iraqi Kurdish forces not only transferred a considerable number of Syrian troops from the Israeli border to the Syrian-Iranian border, but also made Iraq unable to participate in the "October War" in 1973. The Kurdish offensive dragged down the Iraqi army, making it difficult to reinforce the battlefield. In 1975, due to U.S. pressure, Israel interrupted aid to Iraqi Kurds. In the 80s, Israel's relations with the Iraqi Kurds remained low-key due to the warming of relations between the United States and Saddam's regime.
After the 1991 Gulf War, Israel began to openly support and develop relations with Iraqi Kurds. During the U.S. military "Desert Storm" operation in 1991, Jewish organizations around the world began lobbying to help Iraqi Kurdish refugees to stop the Iraqi government from persecuting Kurds. Israel also provided the first aid to Iraqi Kurds, and Israeli Prime Minister Shamir called on the U.S. government to protect Kurds during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Baker.
The Iraq War overthrew Saddam's regime
After the overthrow of Saddam's regime in the Iraq War, the Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region became almost an independent kingdom, and Israel's interest in the Iraqi Kurds increased greatly, further expanding its presence in the Iraqi Kurdish region. Israel believes that it is in its "strategic interest" to strengthen relations with and ally with the Iraqi Kurds, and in addition to training Kurdish forces, one of the important goals is to use the Kurdish region as a base for monitoring Iran and infiltrate Iran and Syrian Kurdish areas through the Kurdish region.
Israeli media reported on Israeli officials' meetings with Kurdish political leaders, and Massoud Barzani, Jalal Talabani and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon all publicly confirmed Israel's good relations with the Kurdish region of Iraq. Seymour Hersh, a well-known American investigative reporter, pointed out that there are hundreds of Israeli Defense Intelligence Agency and Mossad personnel in the Kurdish region of Iraq, and they have established cooperative relations with Kurdish armed forces, with the goal of establishing intelligence groups to collect Iranian nuclear intelligence. In September, the BBC said it had found evidence that Israel was helping to train Kurds in Iraqi Kurdish areas.
This finding of evidence confirms the "grand conspiracy theory" that has been prevalent in the Arab world for years, that the overthrow of Saddam's regime is only the first step in a U.S.-Israel conspiracy to eliminate the grand plan that threatens its regional strategic interests and remap the Middle East. Israel's active development of relations with the Kurdistan regional government in Iraq has its strategic interests: on the one hand, it can obtain intelligence on Iran and Syria, especially on Iran's nuclear program; On the other hand, support the Kurdistan regional government as a force against the Iraqi Arabs.
Israel remains steadfast in training Iraqi Kurds in counter-terrorism techniques and in commercial activities such as telecommunications and infrastructure. Iraqi President Talabani is said to have made two public visits to Israel. The publication of Israeli-Kurdish magazine in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq caused great shock in the Arab world. Given that post-war Iraq had not established diplomatic relations with Israel and the central government controlled diplomacy, it was taboo to openly mention Israel in the post-war Iraqi media.
Despite the Iraqi government's reluctance to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, Kurdish leaders have publicly expressed their willingness to establish relations with Israel. Farah Mustafa Bakir, Minister of External Relations of the Kurdistan Regional Government, said: "There is no problem for us to develop relations with Israel. They didn't hurt us. We cannot hate Israel just because the Arabs hate it." He stressed that Israel is a Middle Eastern democracy and that "we are called the second Israel."
Responding to a question about Kurdish relations with Israel during a visit to Kuwait, Massoud Barzani, chairman of Iraq's Kurdish regional government, said that "it is not a crime for Kurds to establish relations with Israel" because many Arab countries have established relations with Israel. He further stated that "if Baghdad had established diplomatic relations with Israel, we would have allowed the opening of an Israeli consulate in Erbil".
Israeli Foreign Minister Levy sat next to the wife of Iraqi President Talabani at the Vienna International Conference on Women, and the two sides discussed the Middle East peace process and other issues. At the Socialist International Conference, President Talabani and Israeli Defense Minister Barak shook hands. According to a poll conducted by the Erbil Research Center, the majority of Kurds are sympathetic to Israel, which is completely different from the views of the vast majority of people in Middle Eastern countries. The survey involved the major cities in the Kurdistan region – Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, as well as the Kurdish-majority cities of Kirkuk and Mosul.
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Kurds in turmoil: to be exploited or to be exploited? [J]. LI Xinggang. World Knowledge, 2012(08)
Kurds: Who we are[J]. TANG Zhichao. World Knowledge, 2007(22)