For decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran and, lately, Turkey have been funding and arming extremist militant and terrorist networks throughout the Middle East to be used against Israel.
It’s long overdue for Israel to counter their destructive plans by using parallel strategies they use against it.
Not by using conventional proxies, like the Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq and Yemen, who are paid to do Tehran’s dirty work – but rather a real partnership with a reliable regional ally that has a similar ideological alignment, common adversaries, and a willingness to fight. The people that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called a “natural ally.”
I approached Gen. Hussein Yazdanpana of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), a Kurdish armed group that has been fighting against the tyrannical ayatollah regime in Tehran for decades.
I asked the general, “Should Israel arm the Kurdish national liberation movement?” Without any hesitation, he said: “The national security of Israel and the Kurdish people is closely interconnected. Therefore, such support is not only in the interests of the Kurdish nation, but also serves Israel’s own strategic interests.”
He said that if Kurdistan and Israel were to become strategic partners and allies, they could stand together against state-sponsored threats and extremist movements across the region, while contributing to greater regional stability and security through constructive relations with other nations.
The general’s assessment is spot-on. Israel and the Kurds share a long history of covert cooperation dating back to the 1960s. They both have fought against the odds with the same Arab, Turkish, and Iranian enemy in their struggles to establish a homeland for their persecuted people.
Both the Kurdish and the Jewish people face the same demonization, popular animosity, and rejectionism by those who oppose their right to exist as people.
The Kurdish population is about 50 to 60 million, and their ancestral homeland, Kurdistan, stretches over a large mountainous territory and lies within the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.
Just in the past decades alone, close to half a million Kurds were murdered and millions uprooted by the four states occupying Kurdistan.
In September 2017, the results of the Iraqi autonomous Kurdish Region independence referendum showed an overwhelming majority of Kurds (93%) voted for breaking away from Iraq.
Israel was the only country that supported the move. Following the results, there was a massive backlash in the regional media inciting against the Kurds. The Kurds were accused of being “Zionist puppets” working with Israel towards building a “second Israel,” an entity that would disintegrate their so-called Arab world.
The 'second Israel' accusation
The term “second Israel” can be traced back to 1966, when then-Iraqi defense minister Abd al-Aziz al-Uqaili, an Arab nationalist, blamed the Iraqi Kurds for seeking to establish a “second Israel” in the region. Sixty years later, the term is still perpetuated, claiming Kurdistan is imitating “Yahudistan,” meaning the land of the Jews or Israel.
Prof. Ofra Bengio, head of the Kurdish studies program at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, said the “linkages and parallels are intended to demonize and delegitimize both Jews and Kurds, while also implying illegitimate relations between them.”
Gen. Yazdanpana is right when saying supporting the Kurdish cause “also serves Israel’s own strategic interests.” About 12 to 15 million Kurds reside mostly in northwestern Iran (Iran’s Kurdish region), along the borders with Kurdish regions of both Turkey and Iraq.
Israel arming and supporting Kurdish factions will provide Israel with direct leverage to erode Tehran’s internal control. Kurdish forces located along the border with Iran-Iraq are highly disciplined, and Israel supplying them with weaponry is win-win for both the Israelis and the Kurds, as they could potentially serve as a force to challenge the Iranian regime.
Israel’s support of the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, and Iran will also disrupt the “Shi’ite Axis” and Tehran’s ability to supply weapons to its proxies in Iraq and Lebanon.
Following October 7, Turkey has become the hub for Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas leaders. Hardly a day goes by without a senior Turkish politician or public figure calling for the destruction of Israel or to liberate Jerusalem.
In March 2025, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a prayer service marking the end of Ramadan, said: “May Allah, for the sake of his name, destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.”
In July, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, ahead of the NATO Summit, said Israel has become a “burden that humanity can no longer bear.”
These remarks are not isolated outbursts. They reflect Turkey’s increasingly hostile position toward Israel and Jews in general since Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack.
Ankara’s support for radical Islamist groups also goes beyond Hamas. Turkey has a long history of supporting Islamist groups operating in Syria and the wider region. Ankara refuses to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas as terrorist entities, whereas other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have done so.
About half of the total Kurdish population lives in Turkey, roughly 20 million, making up 20% to 25% of Turkey’s total population. They are mainly concentrated in the mountainous east and southeast regions (Kurdish region of Turkey), which share borders with the Kurdish regions of Syria and Iraq, home to some of the most highly disciplined Kurdish forces, such as Peshmerga fighters in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
It goes without saying that the overwhelming majority of Kurds living in Kurdistan and the diaspora aspire to establish a Kurdish homeland.
Israel’s moral support of the Kurdish people falls short. Israel must play a more active role in supporting and arming the Kurdish national liberation movement.
I understand that Israel’s hands are tied due to a lack of interest or commitment by the American administration to an independent Kurdistan. Americans and their allies often emphasize the territorial integrity of those countries who occupying Kurdistan, neglecting to mention that an overwhelming majority of Kurds reject being part of those illusory fascist states.
The writer is a Kurdish-Swedish journalist and researcher specializing in Middle Eastern affairs. She was an Israel-based journalist and podcast presenter for the Arabic and English series Exposing the Lies – The Voice of Truth from the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. She previously worked as a field producer and journalist for several Qatari media outlets.