#Israeli_kurdish_friendship

Israel must deepen its alliance with Kurds as Syria fractures - opinion

As long as Turkey and Qatar continue interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, the threat against minorities, including the Kurds, the Druze, and the Alawites, will continue.

BySUZAN QUITAZ

Two significant outcomes of the Middle East Peace and Security (MEPS) Forum, held in the Kurdish city of Duhok, Kurdistan-Iraq, are the show of unity between the Kurds in Iraq and Syria.

It shows that “Syria will not return to be a centralized state”.

Masrour Barzani, the president of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of the Autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, called for “not repeating the mistakes of the past” that led to Kurdish fragmentation and intra-division. It’s a key message to Damascus that the era of denying the legitimate rights of the Kurds in Syria is gone.

The three-day summit brought together distinguished world leaders, policymakers, academics and experts at a pivotal moment for the region post-October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. 

The guest of honour who caused a “social media frenzy” was the Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi, the Kurdish-Syrian General of the American-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who was invited by KRG’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.

Abdi speaking at the MEPS summit and pictured sitting next to President Barzani with the Kurdish flag seen in the background was shared on thousands of social media platforms. 

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, attends an interview with Reuters in Shaddadi, Syria, June 13, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/Orhan Qereman)

It showed KRG’s commitment to the continued survival of the SDF-run Kurdish region of Rojava in North East Syria. Needless to say, this enraged the regime in Damascus.

Western countries continue to interfere in Syrian affairs 

Information Minister Hamza Al-Mustafa, a former colleague of mine at the Qatari News Channel Alaraby TV, stated, “Western countries continuing their interference in Syrian affairs through their support for SDF forces, and the Duhok Forum is evidence of that.”

It’s ironic that Al-Mustafa talk about “Western interference” but ignores the ‘Turkification’ of Syria post-Assad. 

President Barzani underlined that the Kurdish question in Syria must be resolved democratically and peacefully. Furthermore, Barzani stressed the importance of unity, cohesion, and coordination among Kurdish forces and political actors, and noted that the rights of the Kurdish people must not be violated.

Abdi also spoke about President Barzani’s role in efforts to bring Kurdish parties in Syria closer together and to rebuild unity among them. He added that he highly valued the KRG’s support over the past several years and praised the Kurdish Peshmerga for their contributions to defeating ISIS.

He also had a message to Damascus: “Syria will not return to be a centralized state.” Furthermore, he added that “Kurds can be a political factor for prosperity, peace, and security in the Middle East”.

The Kurdish leadership in Syria must insist on Federalism; this is the only way to secure Kurdish rights. The current regime in Damascus is an exclusive elite dominated by Sunni Arab Islamists. Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the president, is a former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), designated a terrorist organization by the UN, the EU, and the United States.

He has allocated all key governmental positions to his former jihadi-friends. To name a few, the Defence Minister post went to Murhaf Abu Qasra, previously known as Abu Hassan al-Hamawai, a key military leader in HTS.

The Foreign Minister post went to Assad al-Shaibani, who operated for years within jihadist militias under several aliases, including Abu Aisha, Abu Ammar Al-Shami, and Zayd al-Attar. 

Al-Shaibani was invited to speak at Chatham House on 13 November; this was his first public event in the United Kingdom. During the discussion, he was questioned about the situation with the Druze, the Kurds, and Israel.

He accused Israel of playing  “a negative role in Syria’s future,”  shoring up typical Arab fascist propaganda of committing horrific massacres against ethnic and religious minorities, and always blaming ‘an outside force’  to be behind it. 

Back in March 2025, following the horrific massacres on the Druze in Sweida, in which more than 1000 people were murdered, the UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk declared that among the perpetrators were members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s government.

Al-Shaibani gave an interview to Alaraby TV, blaming Israel for being behind it, saying, “What is happening in Sweida is happening in a Syrian city. The people of this city are our people, and the protection of all the residents in it is the responsibility of the state (…) what happened in Sweida is done by Israel to spread sectarian sedition in that region”.

Regarding the Kurdish Question, Al-Shaibani opposes what he called a “special situation” in North-East Syria, Rojava. Which, for the past decade and a half, has been governed by an autonomous Kurdish-led administration. Al-Shaibani talked about a “reintegration” of the South (Druze region) and North-East of Syria.  His “reintegration” is nothing more than a forcible assimilation. 

The political decisions in Syria post-Assad are in the hands of the Turkish government. On a similar level, its media narrative is in line with the Turkish and Qatari rulers.

As long as these two actors continue interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, the threat against minorities, including the Kurds, the Druze, and the Alawites, will continue. That threat is also extended to Israel.

Israel should not withdraw from the “Syrian buffer zone” in the south and continue providing support and protection to the Druze in Syria. Israel needs to strengthen its ties with the Kurds in Rojava and the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq.

Put more pressure on the US administration to not withdraw its support of the SDF and continue its military presence in Iraq, especially in the Kurdish region. 

The Kurds are Jews' natural allies.

Kurds and Jews are often perceived as "others" or internal/external enemies by the same state actors who are hostile to Israel, e.g. Iran, Turkey and some Arab countries.

In fact, Kurdophobia is the second biggest hatred after antisemitism across much of the Middle East, often driven by state-sanctioned propaganda, media and educational materials in countries like Iran, Turkey, Syria, and even some Arab and Muslim communities.

The Kurdish Question has been political weaponized; top officials in countries like Turkey, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s affiliated media outlets, often use anti-Kurdish rhetoric to discredit Kurdish movements by linking them to external “enemies,” meaning Israel.

Kurdish aspiration of establishing a homeland for the over 60-70 million Kurds is denied on the basis that there is no such thing called  ‘the Kurdish people’.

Arab states opposed to Kurdish independence 

All Arab states, including the Palestinian Authority, have historically been opposed to an independent Kurdish state, viewing it as a potential “poisoned sword against the Arabs” or as an Israeli project to destabilize the region. 

Historically, Jews and Kurds lived together in thriving communities for centuries. While almost all Jews from the region have since moved to Israel, Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, in particular, often show more positive views of Jews and Israel compared to Arab populations.

This aspect is partly due to a shared history of discrimination and rejection of Arab nationalist ideologies that often incorporate anti-Zionism, antisemitism, and anti-Kurdish sentiment.  

Of course, except for some Islamist Kurds who hold anti-Israel views, it aligns with broader regional Islamist sentiments. 

There is a significant population of Kurdish Jews in Israel, primarily descended from those who fled Iraq and Iran in the mid-20th century. They number around 200,000 people today and are a well-integrated part of Israeli society.

They played a central role in garnering support for their Kurds and Kurdistan, and thanks to this, the general Israeli public opinion of Kurds is often highly positive. They also played a key role in forcing the Israeli government to provide support  (humanitarian, military, and intelligence) to Kurdish groups in Iraq in the 1960s.

Israel was also the only country to openly support the 2017 Kurdish independence referendum. Millions of Kurds, especially the younger generation, see the State of Israel as a model of a nation born from persecution. 

Now it's time for Israel to lend its support to the SDF.

Suzan Quitaz is a Kurdish-Swedish journalist and researcher on Middle Eastern affairs. She was an Israel-based journalist and podcast presenter for an Arabic and English series, "Exposing the Lies – The Voice of Truth from the Middle East" at The Jerusalem Centre for Security and Foreign Affairs. Previously worked as a field Producer and Journalist at a number of Qatari media outlets.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-874724