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Israel-Kurdish relations

US President Donald Trump speaks with the media aboard Air Force One during a flight from Dover, Delaware, to Miami, Florida, on March 7, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)
March 8, 2026, 5:45 am
After initially voicing support, Trump says he doesn’t want Kurds to enter Iran war
US president previously stated Kurdish invasion from Iraq would be ‘wonderful,’ but now says conflict ‘complicated enough as it is’; believes Iran behind deadly strike on school in south Iran
By Jacob Magid, Reuters and ToI Staff
Members of the Kurdistan Freedom Party PAK stand guard in Erbil, Iraq, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Rashid Yahya)
March 6, 2026, 11:41 pm
Israel said bombing parts of western Iran to enable potential Kurdish offensive
Sources tell Reuters of ‘long-term’ contacts, with Kurdish militants poised to assault border territories and fight IRGC; senior PDKI official says group ready to join fight
By Reuters, ToI Staff and AFP
A damaged mansion is shown following an overnight Iranian missile attack in Erbil, the capital of the northern Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region, on March 13, 2022. (Safin Hamed/AFP)
March 13, 2022, 9:42 pm
US State Department denounces ‘outrageous’ Iranian missile attack on Iraq’s Erbil
Baghdad summons Iranian ambassador in protest of ‘flagrant violation of sovereignty’; Kurdish authorities dismiss ‘baseless’ claims of Israeli sites in the area
By ToI Staff and Agencies
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett holds a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, on August 18, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
September 25, 2021, 11:05 pm
Bennett on Iraqis’ call for normalization: ‘Israel extends its hand in peace’
PM praises gathering of hundreds of Sunni and Shiite notables, says ‘recognition of the historical injustice done to the Jews of Iraq is especially important’
By ToI Staff
Iraqis attend a conference of peace and reclamation organized by US think tank Center for Peace Communications in Erbil, the capital of northern Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region, on September 24, 2021. (Safin Hamed/AFP)
September 25, 2021, 5:01 pm
Baghdad rejects Iraqi Kurdish forum’s push for normalization with Israel
Federal government says call for peace by 300 prominent figures is ‘not representative’ of the population
By AFP
Iraqis attend the conference of peace and reclamation organised by US think-tank Center for Peace Communications (CPC) in Arbil, the capital of northern Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region, on September 24, 2021 (Safin HAMED / AFP)
September 25, 2021, 12:23 pm
Hundreds of Iraqi notables call to join Abraham Accords, make peace with Israel
At Erbil conference, participants also urge rebuilding ties with the country’s dispossessed Jewish diaspora; normalization remains a crime under Iraqi law
By Aaron Boxerman and Lazar Berman
Iraqi Kurds wave an Israeli flag and Kurdish flags during an event urging people to vote in an independence referendum in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, September 16, 2017. (Safin Hamed/AFP)
November 27, 2020, 7:21 pm
‘It makes us feel hopeful’: Iraqi Kurds watch as Israel befriends old Arab foes
Many welcome normalization as positive sign for their own independence dreams, but some analysts say rapprochement unlikely due to geopolitics, despite shared history
By Qassim Khidir
A member of the Kurdish Internal Security Forces of Asayesh flashes the V for victory sign during a demonstartion against Turkish threats in the northeastern city of Qamishli, the de-facto capital of Syria's embattled Kurdish minority, on November 2, 2019. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
November 7, 2019, 2:59 am
Israeli official: Jerusalem providing aid to Kurds since US pullout in Syria
‘We are proud of our taking a stand alongside the Kurdish people,’ says Deputy FM Tzipi Hotovely, adding the Kurds provide a bulwark against spread of Iranian influence in area
By ToI Staff and Agencies
Israel's Ambassador Danny Danon speaks in the Security Council at United Nations headquarters, Monday, April 29, 2019. (AP/Richard Drew)
October 29, 2019, 8:57 am
Israel’s UN envoy: Erdogan has turned Turkey into a ‘regional hub for terror’
Danon tells Security Council that Ankara is persecuting Kurds in Turkey and sending troops ‘to massacre Kurdish people in Syria as well’
By Agencies and ToI Staff
This picture taken on October 17, 2019 from the Turkish side of the border with Syria in the Ceylanpinar district city of Sanliurfa shows smoke and fire rising from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ayn during the Turkish offensive against Kurdish groups in northeastern Syria. (Ozan KOSE/AFP)
October 17, 2019, 3:50 pm
Kurdish politician urges Israeli diplomatic intervention to stop Turkish assault
Speaking to Israeli radio, lawmaker calls for action ‘to save the Kurdish people,’ as authorities ask for humanitarian corridor, accuse Ankara of using banned weapons in Syria
By ToI Staff and AFP
Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Amy Klobuchar during the fourth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by The New York Times and CNN at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, October 15, 2019. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
October 16, 2019, 5:45 am
Democratic hopeful Klobuchar at debate: Trump’s Syria pullout endangers Israel
In criticism of US troop withdrawal, candidate says America’s allies now think president is not true to country’s allies
By ToI Staff and Agencies
Syrian Arab and Kurdish civilians flee with their belongings amid Turkish bombardment on Syria's northeastern town of Ras al-Ain on October 9, 2019. (Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
October 11, 2019, 6:55 am
Turkey’s Syria offensive could displace over a million Kurds, top analyst warns
Jonathan Spyer says Erdogan’s army indiscriminately shelling civilian areas, though unlikely to carry out massacres; believes Kurds will reject Israeli offer of humanitarian aid
By Raphael Ahren
Syrian Kurds gather around a US armored vehicle during a demonstration against Turkish threats, next to a US-led international coalition base on the outskirts of Ras al-Ain town in Syria's Hasakeh province near the Turkish border, on October 6, 2019. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)
October 11, 2019, 2:24 am
Ex-top security official: US Syria pullout bad news, but we can defend ourselves
While many are fretting about Trump’s isolationism and abandonment of allies, Yaakov Amidror insists: ‘I don’t think Israel needs to be worried’
By Raphael Ahren
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during an extended meeting with provincial heads of ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in Ankara, Turkey, on October 10, 2019. (Adem ALTAN / AFP)
October 10, 2019, 8:17 pm
Turkey hits back at Netanyahu for condemning its onslaught against Kurds
Erdogan spokesman calls PM’s rebuke of offensive ’empty words of a disgraced politician facing years in prison’; claims Kurds are under Turkish protection
By ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a memorial ceremony at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl for those killed in the Yom Kippur War, on October 10, 2019. (Flash90)
October 10, 2019, 4:25 pm
Netanyahu condemns Turkish invasion of Syrian Kurdistan, offers aid
Prime minister warns against ‘ethnic cleansing’ of minority in northern Syria, does not mention decision by US president that paved way for offensive
By Jacob Magid
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