As September 25th, the date set for a referendum on the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan approaches, Israel must treat a position of even tentative support for Kurdish independence with caution.
Jews and Kurds share a profoundly similar history of statelessness, persecution, and hope for change. They have, more than once in living memory, shared the same enemies in the Middle East, too. [...]
It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that on several occasions in the last five years Israeli officials have supported the formation of an independent Iraqi Kurdistan. Recently PM Netanyahu called for an independent Kurdish state for the "brave, pro-Western people who share our values," and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked declared this week that "Israel and countries of the West have a major interest in the establishment of the state of Kurdistan", at least in "its Iraqi part". [...]
As U.S.-Iran relations are inflamed and Hezbollah gains ever more strength on Israel’s fringes, the notion that an independent Iraqi Kurdistan would advance Israeli national security objectives in the region is an attractive one. [...]
This common opposition from both Iran and Turkey is likely to complicate matters further from an Israeli perspective. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Iran's Bagheri last month in Istanbul, where hands shook and heads nodded on the importance of Iranian-Turkish unity on opposition towards an independent Kurdistan. The meeting also produced plans for greater cooperation between the two countries in the Syrian theatre.
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