The State of Israel and the Kurdistan Region have had a historically cordial relationship, more recently owing to the latter's autonomy within Iraq, which is a party to the Arab–Israeli conflict. Unlike Iraq, which does not recognize Israeli sovereignty, the Kurdistan Region accepts visitors holding Israeli citizenship at Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. However, Iraqi passports are not valid for travel to Israel.
While formal diplomatic missions have not been established, bilateral ties between Israel and the Kurds have existed since the early 20th century. The Kurdish government has stated that there is no cause for animosity between Israel and the Kurdistan Region in light of Arab-majority Iraq's conflict with Israel, and in 2017, the Israeli government openly voiced support for the establishment of an independent Kurdish state. Relations between the two sides have been met with antisemitism and anti-Kurdish sentiment from the Arab League, Turkey, and Iran.
History
The earliest attested interaction between Israel and Iraqi Kurdistan was in 1931, when the future director of Israel's Mossad, Reuven Shiloah, visited Kurdistan in disguise as a Hebrew teacher and journalist. During his stay, he forged contacts and developed the foundation for an Israeli relationship with the non-Arab communities in the region.
Aliyah by Jews through Kurdistan (1948–1949) As relations between Jews and Arabs deteriorated further due to large gains made by Jewish paramilitary groups in the 1947–1949 Arab-Israeli war, Jews residing in Arab countries experienced heightened persecution, which culminated in their mass exodus. The majority of Iraq's Jewish population fled to Israel from the late-1940s onwards, and did so via Kurdistan with support from neighbouring Iran and the newly independent Israeli state. The Kurdish-Jewish community in Israel would later form the basis of the Israeli policy on the Kurds as they were the primary source of incoming information for Israel on the developing situation of Kurdistan.
Israeli–Kurdish relations (1958–1979) Due to its existence as one of the few non-Arab states in the Middle East alongside Iran and Turkey, Israel formulated the "periphery doctrine", which expressed that it needed to focus on the development of strategic relations with non-Arabs in the region. Among the groups in the policy were the Kurds, who not only were the largest non-Arab population in the region, but also resided over a strategic territory in the Arab-majority state of Iraq, which had taken part in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. In 1959, the Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani sent Kamuran Alî Bedirxan to Geneva, Switzerland, where he met with the erstwhile Israeli foreign minister Golda Meir who promised unconditional Israeli support for an independent Kurdistan. Israel began aiding the Kurdish Peshmerga against the Iraqi state during the First Iraqi–Kurdish War, which lasted from 1961 to 1970 and resulted in the signing of the Iraqi–Kurdish Autonomy Agreement. Despite the signing of the treaty between Iraq and the Kurds, the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict escalated shortly afterwards due to the resumption of Arabization campaigns against the Kurds.
While initially hesitant about an Israeli presence in Kurdistan, Iran's SAVAK intelligence agency was successfully convinced by Israel to assist the Kurds in 1961, and Israel was allowed to use Iranian territory as a conduit for its activities, which included the transportation of weapons and food. Israeli support for Kurdish forces in Iraq remained largely secretive and the existence of any relationship between the two sides was reportedly denied by Israel to the United States. Israel and Iran also helped to form the Kurdish intelligence agency Parastin, which engaged in various espionage operations against the Iraqi military. Bedirxan met with Israeli officials again in 1964, and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion authorized Mossad to supply money and anti-aircraft weapons to the Kurds in Iraq. In May 1965, deputy-director of Mossad David Kimche and Israeli military chief Tzvi Tzur visited Kurdistan, where they met with Barzani in the town of Haji Omeran. The Israelis agreed to provide a large supply of weapons and funding to the Kurds, and delivered the promised resources by winter of that year. Israel also helped Peshmerga troops improve their tactics and training, and played a significant role in the capture of Mount Handrin, where the Peshmerga inflicted thousands of casualties on the Iraqi military. Barzani is known to have personally visited Israel twice in 1968 and 1973.