Cabinet minister calls for the creation of an independent Kurdistan

In an unprecedented move Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked calls for relations with Kurds to be at the center of a new Israeli national security policy, and says the time has come for the rectification of the historic injustice of the lack of a Kurdish state.

“We must openly call for the establishment of a Kurdish state that separates Iran from Turkey, and that will be friendly towards Israel,” Shaked tells the annual INSS security conference in Tel Aviv.

“We must build economic and other ties with them. It is time to help them,” she says.

“The Kurdish people are a partner for the Israeli people,” she tells the conference, noting the shared interests of Israel and the Kurds in defeating the rise of jihadist Muslim groups in the region. “The Kurds are an ancient, democratic, peace-loving people that have never attacked any country,”

Iraqi Kurdish forces take part in an operation backed by US-led strikes in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar on November 12, 2015, to retake the town from the Islamic State group and cut a key supply line to Syria. (AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED)

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.