Alwaght- Israeli regime's Prime Minister has once against expressed support for Iraqi Kurds secessionist desires.
Touching on Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) breakaway referendum on September 25, which was widely opposed by regional and international powers, Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday “We have very great sympathy for their desires and the world needs to concern itself with their safety and with their future".
The Israeli premier was speaking at the Israeli parliament (Knesset) in al-Quds (Jerusalem) during a memorial ceremony for far-right former tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi, who was killed in 2001.
Ze’evi went on a secret mission to the Iraqi Kurdish Region in the 1960s and supervised the establishment of an Israeli military “field hospital” there, Netanyahu said.
During the visit, Ze’evi “came face to face with warm expressions of support for Israel which continue to this day,” Netanyahu noted.
The memorial coincided with news that Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) decided to postpone planned legislative elections for eight months amid tensions with the central government in Baghdad.
The Iraqi government responded to the referendum by taking a number of punitive measures, including a campaign to seize back positions held by Kurdish forces since 2014, when they joined the fight against ISIS terrorists.
Except for Israel, the entire international community, particularly Iraq’s neighbors, have voiced opposition to Kurdistan’s ambitions for separation from the mainland, warning that such a move could complicate counterterrorism operations in the Arab state.
Netanyahu went against the global tide back in September and publicly voiced support for what he called the “legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of its own.”
Earlier this month, Israeli officials told Reuters that Netanyahu had been lobbying world powers to garner support for the secession bid and prevent further setbacks to the Kurds as they lost ground to the Iraqi army.
The premier is not the only Israeli official who has been trying to add fire to the flames and escalate the tensions by making provocative remarks. Just a few days ago, Israel’s Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said, “The issue at present is ... to prevent an attack on the Kurds, extermination of the Kurds and any harm to them, their autonomy and region.”
An unnamed Israeli regime official has also stressed that it would be best if someone gave the Kurds “weaponry, and whatever else.”
