Iraqi Kurdistan–Israel relations
The Iraqi Kurdistan–Israel relations covers the historical background of relations between Kurds and Jews, and the current political and economic relations between the Iraqi Kurdistan and the State of Israel.
Iraqi Kurdistan and Israel do not have an official status of relations, though there are claims that there are numerous contacts between the entities on government and business levels. Iran and Syria have accused Iraqi Kurdistan of having relations with Israel. Massoud Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan and leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, claimed in 2005 that "establishing relations between the Kurds and Israel is not a crime since many Arab countries have ties with the Jewish state."
Historical background
History of the Jews in Kurdistan
The Jewish community in Mesopotamia was one of the oldest in the world, dating back to the Babylonian conquest of the southern tribes of Israel, in 586 BCE. A smaller group of Israelites were taken into captivity almost 150 years earlier from the northern part of Israel by Assyria, in 722 BCE.There were times when Jews flourished in Babylon, producing the Babylonian Talmud there between the years 500 and 700 CE.
Based on these relations, the Jews of Kurdistan lived freely alongside Muslims and Christians for generations in relative security. Those that immigrated to Israel would reminisce about the positive experiences they and their fathers and forefathers had in the tribal Kurdish society. Without these roots, the state of Israel would have never been able to connect sincerely with the Kurdish leadership, which was mostly tribal.
Kurdish Jews in modern times
The Sufi Shaikhs of the Naqshbandi from the Barzani family were among the most respected and influential in Kurdistan. The family became an influential tribe that played an important role in the Kurdish national movement. Wigram noted that the Shaikh of Barzān was "a merciful over-lord," noted for his fair treatment of his followers. The leaders of this particular Naqshbandi family, during the first half of the 20th century, notably Shaikh Ahmad and Mustafa Barzani, had "special relationships with the Kurdish Jews under their patronage."Zaken also provides details on the good relations between the Khawaja Khinno patriarchs and the Barzanis, which, reportedly, the authorities wished to use. In one case the Turkish authorities asked the Jewish merchant Eliyahu Khawaja Khinno from Aqrah to mediate between them and Shaikh Abd al-Salam Barzani, who was an insurgent tribal leader. In the second account, it was the British authorities who wanted to use the good trust between the Barzanis and the Jewish leaders of Aqrah.
Another account that symbolizes the trust between the tribal heads of Barzanis and the Jews of Aqra, takes place in 1944, when Mullā Mustafā concluded a tribal pact with the heads of the Zībarī tribe, in order to reinforce his leadership among the Kurdish tribes. To seal this pact with a marriage contract, Mullā Mustafā and Shaikh Ahmad were to marry daughters of the Zībarī tribal leaders. According to members of Khawaja Khinno family, in 1944, Mullā Mustafā was about to depart from Aqraj and Both David and Yitzhak Khawaja Khinno, accompanied him to say farewell. Before his departure, at the courtyard in front of the police station of Aqra, he distanced himself from the crowd and consulted with the two brothers. Mullā Mustafā told David: "Hājjī Qādir Agha spoke with me about marrying his sister and Shaikh Mahmūd Agha spoke with me about marrying his daughter... What do you think?" David Khawaja Khinno told him: "I suggest that the sister of Hājjī Qādir Agha be given to Shaikh Ahmad and you should take the daughter of Mahmud Agha." Mullā Mustafā Barzani told him: "well, in that case, would you prepare gold for her?"
In 1944, when Eliyahu Khawaja Khinno died, Mullā Mustafā came in person to Aqrah to pay his condolences. This memorable visit demonstrates, in the eyes of the Jewish residents of Aqrah, the special bond between the two families. To the amazement of the Kurds of Aqrah, Barzani visited them first, before he visited important Shaikhs such as Abd al-Wahhāb and Mustafā Mullā Jibrā’īl. During this visit, David Khawaja Khinno honored Barzani with a golden dagger, decorated with three gold buttons, and a pistol. According to Aryeh Gabbai, Barzānī told them: “I am taking the dagger but not the pistol, which you may need. We have weapons.” On the same occasion, in front of the tribal chiefs who accompanied him, Mullā Mustafā emphasized the bond that existed with the Khawaja Khinno family, and the need to continue to protect the family which was dear to him:
The special relations between the Barzani tribal chiefs and the patriarchs of the family of Khawaja Khinno continued even after the exodus of Mustafa Barzani to Russia in 1947 and the mass migration of the Jews to the State of Israel from 1951 to 1952. Following the collapse of the Republic of Mahabad at the end of 1946, Mustafa Barzani went into exile in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. His wife and son, returned to Iraq.
During World War II and especially at the end of the British Mandate of Palestine in 1947, a drastic reduction in the Jewish population of Iraq began, affecting also the Jews inhabiting the northern Kurdish-dominated regions. In 1950, Iraqi Jews were given permission to leave within one year, on condition that they renounce their Iraqi citizenship. One year later the Jews who left had their property frozen. Jews who had chosen to stay in Iraq had economic restrictions placed on them. The Jews of the Kurdish regions evacuated entirely, all coming to Israel.
In response to intense international pressure in the early 1970s, Iraq caved in and allowed whatever Jews still remained there to leave. As of 2004 about 35 Jews were still living in Baghdad, but by 2008 that number declined to less than 10.
Since the mid-20th century the population of the Jews in northern Iraq, specifically in Kurdistan, was hence decimated. However, there are signs that there are some "hidden Jews" still residing in Kurdish areas and some came back from Israel to stay.
These were the foundations upon which, during the 1960s and 1970s, the Israeli government established relations with the Barzani chieftain, Mulla Mustafa Barzani, who had become the most important leader of the Kurds.
Israeli support for KDP in 1960s and 1970s
According to Eliezer Tsafrir, a former senior Mossad official, in 1963–1975 Israel had military advisers at the headquarters of Mulla Mustafa Barzani, and trained and supplied the Kurdish units with firearms and field and anti-aircraft artillery.Political relations
Jewish organizations worldwide started lobbying campaigns to aid the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan during the Operation Desert Storm to stop the Iraqi government's persecutions. Israel also provided, through Turkish Kurdistan, first aid items to Iraqi Kurdistan, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, during a meeting with US Secretary of State James Baker called on the American government to defend the Kurds.Israeli media in 2004 reported about the meetings of Israeli officials with Kurdish political leaders when Massoud Barzani, Jalal Talabani and the former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon publicly confirmed the good relations with the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
The president of the Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, answered a question while visiting Kuwait in May 2006 about the Kurdish–Israeli relationship: "It is not a crime to have relations with Israel. If Baghdad established diplomatic relations with Israel, we could open a consulate in Erbil." Israeli television has in the past broadcast photographs from the 1960s showing Massoud Barzani's father, Mustafa Barzani, embracing the then Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan.
In a policy address in 2014, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the establishment of an independent Kurdish state. He claimed that: "The Kurds are a fighting people that have proven political commitment and political moderation, and they're also worthy of their own political independence."
According to recent reports, there are between 400–730 Jewish families living in the Kurdish region. On 18 October 2015, the Kurdistan Regional Government named Sherzad Omar Mamsani, a Kurdish Jew, as the Jewish representative of the Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs.
Israel became the first state to support the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan, however it has not recognized it as an independent state.
Military relations
In 2004, it was reported by the New Yorker magazine, that allegedly Israeli military and intelligence operatives are active in Kurdish areas of Iran, Syria and Iraq, providing training for commando units and running covert operations. In response, Israel's embassy in Washington denied the claim, which was sourced in the magazine mainly to an unnamed former and current intelligence officials in Israel, the US and Turkey.According to 2006 BBC report, there was evidence that Israeli experts were dispatched to Iraqi Kurdistan to provide training to Peshmerga. Kurdish officials refused to comment on the report and Israel denied it knows of any involvement.