Jewish community in Israel proud of its members fighting with Kurds against Islamic State

Jewish community in Israel proud of its members fighting with Kurds against Islamic State.

TEL AVIV, Israel,— Israelis of Kurdish ethnic origin are supporting Peshmerga forces in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, while some Arabs in Israel join Islamic State fighters in Syria, highlighting the complex blend of ethnic and other loyalties in the volatile Middle East.

Israeli citizens are helping Iraqi Kurds in Kurdistan region in their fight against Islamic State militants, highlighting ties that go back decades in the complex game of alliances in the Middle East, Channel NewsAsia reports. 

Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq are fighting Islamic state militants, aided by US air support. But there is also help from the Jewish state of Israel on a battleground that stretches across Iraq and Syria and borders Turkey, bringing combatants from different corners of the globe to both sides.

Some of the fighters come from a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem known to locals as Little Kurdistan. It is home to 250,000 Jewish Iraqi Kurds, including Gill Rosenberg, an Israeli woman soldier who has taken up arms with Kurdish fighters in Syrian Kurdistan against Islamic State militants.

 "The Jewish community here in Israel is very proud of her,” said Yehuda Ben Yosef, chairman of the National Organization of Kurds in Israel. “She’s been in the army here in Israel. They do something that I think is very very brave. We are all the time saying to God: ‘Care about her’”.

Relations between Israel and the Iraqi Kurds date back decades, including sharing military and intelligence ties since the 1960s - albeit discreetly - so as not to irk their Muslim neighbours.

Eliezer Tzafrir was the last chief of Israel's national intelligence agency Mossad to be stationed in Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan. He says relations between the two sides have always been excellent.

"We had good, very good relations,” Mr Tzafrir said. “We were supporting the Kurds mainly with cannons, field cannons and anti- air cannons. We both look upon each other as an ally. There are all the reasons for both to keep good relations, strategic coordination in face of opposition all around".

The Israelis and Kurds share a minority status in the Middle East.

But at the same time, some Arabs living in Israel support the Islamic State. Imad Shurbaji's son, Ahmed, travelled to Syria to fight the Kurds, and spent three months there before his father flew to Turkey to beg him to return home.

He's now in an Israeli jail, sentenced for fighting with an outlawed organisation. "For me it's hard to understand,” said Mr Shurbaji. “It's also hard for me to blame him. I'm standing on the sidelines. I don't really agree with what (the Islamic State) is doing. I educated him for peaceful ways, for co-existence - not wars and the like".

The fate of Israelis like Ms Rosenberg, who are still fighting, is unclear. What is apparent though is that more Israeli citizens have signed up for battle - both for and against the Islamic State.

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