Jews for Kurdistan!

Christopher, is it not feasible, within the realm of possibility, that as Iraq writes its constitution, there could be a state-type system similar to what we have in the USA (United STATES of America)? We have states’ rights, and you cannot get much more diverse than say, New York state & Texas, or S. Dakota and California, can you? Why would this not be a popular idea for the Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, et al? Just curious. Please feel free to e-mail me with your answer.

Theories are nice but will not buy you a cup of coffee or get rid of a president. Facts will, so lets deal in facts only.

Fact-The invasion of the Middle East was planned long before 9/11.

Fact-Afghanistan had nothing to do with 9/11 they are a country who had nothing to do with terrorism. Terrorist is an adjective noun describing a group not a country. The capture of the group should have been handled by an agency of the government trained for this particular type of activity or through INTERPOL with the help of the nation the group use as a base. There are many way to approach this sort of a problem, none of them called for invading a country. Bin Laden is a gangster and the Taliban are minions of would be minor dictators of tiny territories.

We attacked Afghan because of oil & gas pipelines that were being constructed. In the case of the great natural gas and oil fields of Turkmenistan, immediately north of Afghanistan, the US government has for a decade strongly supported plans by US-led business groups for both an oil pipeline from Turkmenistan to the Arabian Sea via Afghanistan and a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. Such pipelines would serve important US interests in a number of ways:

Drawing the Central Asian oil states away from the Russian sphere of influence and establishing the foundation for a strong US position. Thwarting the development of Iranian regional influence by limiting Turkmenistan-Iranian gas links. Thwarting a plan for a Turkmenistan-Iran oil pipeline to the Arabian Sea. Diversify US sources of oil and gas, and, by increasing production sources, help keep prices low. Benefiting US oil and construction companies with growing interests in the region. Providing a basis for much-needed economic prosperity in the region, this might provide a basis for political stability.

For much of the 1990s the United States supported the Taliban�s rise to power, both by encouraging the involvement of US oil companies, and by implicitly tolerating Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, two of its key regional allies, in their direct financial and military support for the Taliban. The Taliban, which is committed to a particularly primitive vision of Sunni Islam, had the added advantage for the US of being deeply hostile to Shia Muslims in neighboring Iran (as well as within Afghanistan).

The US interest in Afghanistan by Richard Tanter

Fact-Patriot Act-This intricate document of double and triple writing stretching into almost four hundred pages was delivered to congress in thirty days after 9/11, was enacted and signed into law in two weeks. Is it possible to write a thing like that in four weeks? Possible but unlikely, would congress pass a thing which deprived the American people of their constitutional rights, perhaps after all it said The Patriot Act, maybe if they had time to read it. I thing not, after all the right of habeas-corpus is a very big thing to lose under, normal circumstances it would be suicidal to even consider such a bill.

Fact-We invaded Iraq. Why, were they a threat to anything? No of course not, how could they be? We flew over them since we went to war with them, watching ever thing they did for thirteen years. They were under economical sanctions and could only sell oil for food for their starving. They never had anything to do with 9/11, the world and a third of America was against it. Collin Powel flew all over the world delivering insane messages on weapon of mass destructions like a messenger dog frothing at the mouth. It made me ill to watch the spectacle; no one believed him so George W went it with Tony (the pony) Blair and invaded a sovereign Country. Result thousands homeless, untold thousands died or were maimed; people are starving again, in another Viet Nam only worse.

Fact-America spent billions destroying two countries and now has to spend billion to rebuild countries we never had any business invading in the first place. The problem is we cannot rebuild the people who died or are crippled for life. Now America is in debt and will carry the debt and pass it on to our children and their children to their children. The American government is so brilliant that they do not realise we cannot win a war in a foreign land fighting people who want to keep their country. How can a soldier fight for America with any patriotism when the outcome has no meaning to them, will they come home to parades, the conquering hero, young women chasing them. Get real; they will be lucky if someone talks to them.

Fact-America is using depleted uranium in bullet, bombs and rockets. The ground is radioactive and is contaminated with radiation that it will be there for millions of years. The inhabitant will be in danger the rest of their short lives. Face the facts the people are still dying from an atomic energy station that had a melt down in Chernobyl, Russia. Atomic energy waste is not a thing one want within a thousand miles of human beings. Yet the American government spreads it like gravy on potatoes with no thought to the future or the effect it will have on the land or the people�s lives. They will remove all of the oil and mineral and leave it a desert and people will have to live there with nothing but a slow death.

Fact-Sixty-five percent of Americans think their president is doing a good job in Iraq, does this remind you of a Judas goat leading the lambs to slaughter. Mr Bush is running for President of the United State, will he buy this election as he did the first? So few Americans vote it is hard to tell, do we want this man and his group in power for another four years? Does it make a difference to the people who struggle to make ends meet in what has turned into a dictatorship? Why is the president trying (chuckle) to turn the world into a democracy when we do not even have it here in his homeland. Does democracy mean, Believe Me, as he steals the countries natural resource?

Fact-America cannot survive another four years of the Bush administration, the truth is we cannot survive another week. Can we live with unemployment, higher taxes for the one who can get jobs? Someone has to pay for this folly; it is obviously not going to be the rich. When the government spends money, they are spending the people�s money and when it goes into debt, the people go into debt. Do you think you will not have to pay taxes because you do not have a job? Get real, everything you lose, you lose to the government. Every bottle or can of beer you buy, the gas and oil you use in the old klucker is mostly tax, along with your medications. Do not worry though you will probable end up in a concentration camp where you have a bed and some sort of food and have a job that does not pay money. Slave labour is the best kind, no taxes to pay, no unemployment, no family to worry about they will live in different barracks.

Fact-I used to worry about the animals becoming extinct, now I worry about humanity. The earth is heating up, thousands died last summer because of the heat and we are heading into another year. The ground area on the earth is getting smaller and we are running out of space to dump our waste products. Now we use the ocean but in the process, we are losing our oceans to oil spills, radiation dumps and the rest our garbage. The first law of nature is for every action there is a reaction so if we are poisoning our water and we cannot survive without water, vote for Bush and spend our last days as slaves, at least we will be fed and get some of the last water, maybe.

What can we do to change this situation? I know we cannot do anything alone, so we must talk to people gather and talk this out, form action groups to make changes in the whole government. Only the House of Representatives can impeach the president and now they will never do it. Therefore, we have to get rid of the whole government, start over again. We have to start with state government, electing good people, no lawyers, it is a conflict of interest to elect lawyer to make laws, people make laws they can live with as a society. We need laws we understand not something that will be good for individuals. All it takes is one person talking to two and two talking to four etc, etc, etc. if we do not start now it will be too late. I do not know how many people will read this and do something but I know I am trying. I shall keep trying until something happens, if nothing happens, I will keep going until the end.

Saeedpour is quite a character. From reading the issues of her journals and speaking with her at length on one occasion, it seems that anything less than 100% altruism from a party is a sign of base manipulation and greed. Reading or speaking to her is not a discussion so much as it is a monograph of corruption and greed pointing out every single reservation or change in tack, with little attention to nuance or long-term strategies. Her library is an invaluable resource, but the analyses she offers contribute little to a serious student of the subject.

Rocky— no doubt. Nuance is rarely a characteristics of true believers. (They don’t “do” nuance.) But I’m really more interested in the depth of her conviction and if other Jews feel the same way. I’m trolling for a freelance piece, basically.

Her journals? Did I miss something? Are they online? I’d love to read them…

I am not Jewish, but I am from Holland and my parents were very much involved in the Jewish cause during WWII. My father had a stint in a concentration camp (Catholic).

I don’t know if that causes me to have the feelings I have for the Kurds, but I feel strongly that there should be an independent Kurdistan, even if it is as a state or territory type setup rather than a country. This country has used these people and it’s time to give back.

She publishes two journals. Kurdish Life, which is more informal and concentrates on Kurdish culture, politics, etc; and the International Journal of Kurdish Studies, a more scholarly publication. The issues I’ve seen of the latter include articles on folklore, proverbs, British chroniclers passing through Kurdistan, etc. I do not believe they are on the web, but I haven’t looked too thoroughly. I view them in the New York Public Library on 42nd st.

If Jews are for an independant Kurdistan… how come then they are not respecting the right of the Palestinians to an independant state?

Are they FOR Kurdistan just because they’re AGAINST the Arabs? Are they for Kurdistan because they want the Iraqi state to be divided in different states? Divide and rule…

I would like to point out that the oil-rich city of KIRKUK is NOT historically Kurdish as many seem to think. Kirkuk was a Turkman city.

The Turkman population has been evicted from their houses in Kirkuk and surrounding villages. Untill now many of them have not been able to recover their lost lands and houses (example the village of BASHIR).

It is in the interest of all the different ethnic and religious communities in Iraq to join their efforts to rebuild their country and to keep Iraq united.

Hi,

Some background you might want to check out re: the Kurdish-Jewish connection.

Several months ago I was doing some late night internet surfing. I got on a jag on Kurds for some reason or other and found out some interesting stuff. For one thing, not all Kurds are Muslims. There is another, somewhat shadowy religion (Alevin? …something like that … also known as “Cult of the Angels”) that can masquerade as Islam, when necessary, but isn’t. There are some Arabic practitioners, too. It descends, apparently, from Zoroastrianism.

Another interesting thing I learned is that there were, until fairly recently, Kurdish Jews, descendents of a small group of converts from the Middle Ages or so. As I recall, nearly all of them emigrated to Israel sometime in the last fifty years or so.

So, if you do find a Jewish-Israeli-Kurdish connection, I wonder if - in turn - there would be a connection to this historical religious and cultural group.

I wish I could give you some URL’s to check out, but the info came out of one of those ephemeral, wee hours surf sessions when nothing is bookmarked. But it wasn’t hard to find on “google.”

I really have appreciated your site and your point of view these past war-torn months.

Regards,

Mary

British Columbia

Canada

Hi, Mary—

you’re thinking of the Yezedi, who are indeed descended from Zoroastrianism, and they are often (incorrectly) characterized as devil worshippers. While it’s true they pay homage to Satan as a force in the universe, it’s more like they are hedging their bets, theologically speaking.

Lets be honest, its a vested interest among jews that support Israel to see mostly arab states broken up therefore denying them any power at all. I doubt this compassion is born out of pure philantropy given the Israeli government shows little compassion for the Palestinians. The Kurds would be better off with autonomy, especially since Kirkuk, the oil center, is populated with Turkomens and Arabs (christian as well) that dont want federalism or independence.

I am Jewish (secular) and have sympathized with an independent Kurdistan for many years. Still do—more than ever. In fact, I am one of those who needs to be convinced there is a good reason to keep Iraq together.

I have read that Kurdistan is truly an exception within the Muslim world in that the people there are not particularly anti-semitic or anti-Zionist. (This information comes from an article by German Middle East expert Thomas von den Osten-Sacken.)

I think Jewish support for the Kurds comes from an identification with them as an unjustly oppressed people who have always been a minority in other peoples’ countries.

Barzani is taking advantage of the fast handover of power in which Bremmer is focuse to push for more Kurdish demands, in doing so he is alienating Talabani who is focusing on working as a proxy to keep Sistani happy and work toward a united Iraq. Talabani needs the image of a united kurdish front but he is worried about some kurds creating their own problems (i.e shooting at Turkoman peaceful protesters, as well as assyrians in the crowd).

Omar Masry

Baghdad International Airport, Iraq

www.omarmasry.net

we should support an independent KURDISTAN…

I am also an Israeli Jew, and I do find sympathy for the Kurdish people. They are a distinct people from Arabs who have had Islam imposed on them in the last millenium, very much like Persians. Also, like Roger L. Simon said above, there is no good reason why they should be part of Iraq. Iraq is an artificial state which was carved out by colonial forces in the early 20th century, along with rest of the middle east. That is why you find Kurds in Syria, Turkey, Iran… They have been there for thousands of years, but the lines were drawn around them.

The kurds are the closest relatives within the muslim family of nations to the Jews, and the knowledge that they have the Kohanim (Priest) gene descended from Moses brother Ahron is amazing. This also proves the origins of Judaism within the mid east region, which Islamic extremists and their liberal allies are trying to airbrush out of history.

There are many websites which go into much greater detail than I can here, which reveal that the ancient kingdoms in that region practised Judaism as their official religion. I am thrilled that there is a bond there. I wholeheartedly support the re-establishment of Kurdistan for the kurdish people and hope that they can be the future allies of the State of Israel.

Shalom

Hi!

Im a 26 years old kurdish doctor in sweden and im very keen and hopeful that love and more contact between kurds and jews would be a step in the beginning of a very good relationships between these two people living surrounded by arab imperialists.This may not be so easy as it should be ,but a more realistic and true describing of the jewish people’s history in kurdish schools may be a good start.

Kurds must say openly that they are friends to the israelis and that they are willing to have good relationships with their friends.This may not be easy,being surrounded by Mullas and Arabs, but they should declare what they beleive in and those who are against peace and friedship between these two people should continue to live in hatred and war like they always did and are willing to do.

We are people from the middle east too and we want to turn it to a peaceful modern place.

Mezin Ali

Sweden

I am an American Jew. I support Kurdish nationalism. I feel that this relates to the Jewish experience in that the Kurds are a stateless nation, as the Jews once were. The same principles that are the basis of the Zionist movement can be applied to this situation as well. The Kurdish people have the right to self-determination of government.

While I hope that a future Kurdistan would be a close ally of Israel, I do not wish to see the exclusion of Arab peoples. I support Palestinian nationalism, and hope to some day see a strong, democratic, peaceful Middle East.

As previously mentioned, there are ethnic ties between Kurds and Jews. I would also like to add that there are close (not as close) ethnic ties between Palestinian Arabs and Jews. Palestinians are actually closer geneticly to Jews than are other Arab goups. Many of the same articles that mention Kurdish-Jewish links also mention Palestinian-Jewish links.

A little off topic: why is that Sephardim and Mizrahim are not counted as Arabs of Jewish faith?

Pan-Arabism includes numerous religious sects and tribal groups, and even some non-Arab ethnic groups. Unfortunately, neither Arab Jews nor their European brethren are included. Kurds suffer are treated similarly. But Sudanese, Somalians and Eastern Orthodox Arabs are considered to be Arabs.

Here is an artical on Kurdistan and the Israel Alliance by : Goran Nowicki KurdistanObserver.com

April 5, 2004

HISTORY OF KURDISH-JEWISH FRIENDSHIP

The friendship between the ancestors of the Kurds, the Medes and the Jews have been referred many times in Bible and the religious books. The religious texts report that in the late 8th century BC, the Assyrian invaders of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) deported the Jews to “Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes” (II Kings 17:6). The Assyrians at that time should have seen a historic link and bond between the Jews and the Medes for the deportations. Saddam never deported Kurds to Turkey, but decided to deport them to Iran. If there

has been an affinity between the Medes ancestors of the Kurds and the Jews, so far that historic link between the two has rarely been looked at.

In search for Medes/Media in Jewish texts, We know that in religious texts there is a reference to sons of Abraham called Medan and Midian besides Ismael and Issac who were born from Abraham’s other wives Hagar and Sara.

Genesis 25:1 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

1 Chronicles 1:32 Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan.

Midian, like Abraham’s other sons was given a territory and it is likely that Midian’s territory is to the east of Gulf of Aqaba. We know that Moses married also a girl from a city called Midian after his departure from Egypt which could be the same territory and tribe given to the Abraham’s son Midian. In these literature, one can

also find the name of Noah’s son Media who was given the territory south of Black Sea. So one can find traces of the Med/Median name at least in religious texts of the Jews.

From the Medes side, one can trace back the Medes to the Mitanni/Hurrian empire ruling in the 16th century BC because both Medes and Mitanni were Indo-Iranian speakers in contrast to their Hittite Indo-European cousins in the North or the Semitic Assyrians. The Medes also called their capital Hang-Mitanni (present Hamedan) as a clear

linguistic link to the earlier Mitanni kingdom. The Mitanni (Nahrain) empire had a capital called Washukani.

Washu-kani (probably meaning good river, that is bash Kani in present Kurdish language) is said to be somewhere in the Kurdistan region in Syria (close to Qamishli, the present day capital of the Kurdish region there).

Mitanni was in war or sometimes in alliance with the Parahos ruling in Egypt. Some of the Pharaoh?s wives were the daughters of the Mitanni kings. For example the daughter of Mitanni King Artatama was married to Egyptian Pharaoh

Tuthmose, and the daughters of Mitanni Shuttarna II (Gilukhipa) and Tushratta (Tadukhipa) were married to Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III. So it is very possible that at some period, the whole Israel was under the rule of Mitanni

kings too (see http://www.friesian.com/notes/newking.htm#mitanni for a map). This is during the period of Mit-anni

and Mesr-anni (Egyptian) competition that the Jewish prophet Moses take his journey from Egypt to Median. It is natural that prophet Moses, running away from the Egyptians, would take refuge with their rivals. Is Moss?s Med-ian the same as Mit-anni then?

The Egyptian foreign policy was now rather forced, itself on the Hurrian realm developed

again: To concentrate Mitanni, which began very early a frightening policy of expansion.

Under Tutmosis I. (approx. 1508/05 1493 BC) it comes to the first war with Mitanni.

Syria Palestine is still calm and recognizes far away the Egyptian primacy on. But

Mitanni tries now to expand its influence on Syria Palestine. Up to a certain degree

that may have succeeded. The Egyptian queen Hatschepsut (1490-1470/68 BC)

gives up practically its requirement on Palestine. As Tutmosis III. (1490-1439/36 BC) around 1470 its king rule start, is already dangerous for Egypt so the situation that it sets 1468 BC its army direction Palestine in April in march. niche troops and an

armed force of 330 Syrian and Palestinian princes are already available with Megiddo

to introduce a large-scale offensive against Egypt.

(Jaros 1992)

Mitanni was divided between the Hittite and Assyrians later in the 13th Century BC and 5 centuries later the Media of Medes was resurrected which put an end to the rule of Assyrian empire later. What is interesting to note is that the first King of Mitanni is born from Kitra. Kitra sounds close to Kutra, the wife of Abraham who was the

mother of Median and Midian. These similarities in names and characters may be accidental or they may point to some historical links between the ancestors of the Jews and the Kurds.

But well documented in history, we see that the Medes brought down the Assyrian empire and helped the Jews to return from exile and go back to their historic land in Jurasalem and its neighboring cities. Even after the collapse of the Medes empire, we see that those Persian kings who were from Medes mother lineage (starting with Cyrus) treated the Jews very nicely and with respect. Mother lineage played a crucial role in ancient empires and religions. For example according to Jewish law, the most important signifier of Jewishness is being born of a Jewish mother (not a Jewish father).

The Medes lineage in Persian empire was terminated with the Moghophobia (killing of Magis) feast of Dariush that put an end to the influence of the Medes Moghs/Magis in the palace and an end to the Medes maternal lineage of Persian kings. After this period we see a change of policy towards Jews in Persian empire and traces of it is now left in the Jewish Purim feast where the Jews faced a holocaust at the hands of the Persian king.

During Saladin’s time we see yet another instance of friendship between a Kurdish King and the Jews. The trusted and special doctor of Saladin, Rambam was a Jew. The history repeats again and Saladin, following the example of Medes kings, allowed the Jews to return and live in peace in Jerusalem in their sacred city. For centuries

after Saladin, the Kurds and Jews have been living peacefully with each other and we see before the breakup of the Ottoman empire, a large Jewish population in Mosul Velayet/Kurdistan. Around 10% of the population in Kurdistan were

Jews after the WWI.

In the Arab-Israeli wars in the region in the 60’s and 70’s we also saw an alliance between Israel and Kurds, led by the Kurdish leader Mula Mustafa Barzani, putting pressure on Iraq and Syria. More recently, we have seen many positive remarks by Israeli officials about the prospects of creation of a Kurdistan state in the region. It is up

to the Kurdish politicians to use the opportunity and strengthen the Israeli-Kurdish relations in the region further. The potential for reviving the historic Kurdish-Israeli bonds are very strong and many of Kurdish-Israeli Jews hold high offices in Israel and have been competing for positions such as Prime minister and Defence Minster

in Israel.

The Kurds and Israelis have a long history of friendship and a common enemy called Syria at present. This comes in the

context of around 3600 years of peaceful cohabiting between the ancestors of present Kurds and Jews in the region.

REFERENCES:

-Marc D. Angel, Seeking Good, Speaking Peace: Collected Essays of Rabbi Marc D.

Angel (Hoboken, N.J.: KTAV Publishing House, 1994); Michael Asheri, Living Jewish:

The Lore and the Law of the Practicing Jew (New York: Everest House, 1978).

-Goran Nowicki, Prince and the players, Kurdistan Observer, 26 Feb 2003.

-Goran Nowicki, KURDS PLAYING JUDO WITH TURKS, Kurdistan Observer, 21 Feb 2003.

-Goran Nowicki, Turks Double Crossing Bush, Kurdistan Observer, 18 Jan 2003.

-Goran Nowicki, An April’s Fool Gulf war II? Kurdistan Observer, 9 Feb 2003.

• Karl Jaros, Kanaan - Israel - Pal�stina, Ein Gang durch die Geschichte des Heiligen Landes (Kulturgeschichte derantiken Welt 51), Mainz 1992 (see http://mailbox.univie.ac.at/~jarosk8/Kanaan.html).

My name is Dana im 22 and live in united states.

I just want to explain kurdish opinion about our relationship with Isreali and jewish people we had and still have strong relation with our jewish community in the world becuase kurdistan was one of the jewish land in the past .Baath regimes destroyed everythings and killed . the same thing happen right now in syria the regime still in power.even in Turkey and Iran people suffering from thier athourities.we support our jewish and Isreali friends anywhere in the world and we are proud of this. Thanks Dana N

I just wanna say that the ties between kurds and jews are international. And it is not becuse we have the same enemy.

We have had kingdoms (Adiabene) together (first documented. around 100 years B.C.).

We have help each-other for tousands of years, and still doing so. (Tzafrir, Eliezer: “Ana Kurdi” 1998).

In Sweden we have began to take this relationship to a next level. We have start to educate each-other by coordinate seminaries, on kurdish and jewish history (ex the historical ties between us), among others.

We have also start making ties with organisations in Israel.

P.s. Kerkuk is historically Kurdish and had the majority until the arabization tog place. Now the majorite is both kurds and arabs and the other groups are a minority of the population D.s.

Thanks Cesur Nujen /pro-Kurdish and Israeli activist.

Hello! My name is Sohrab, I am a 20 year old Kurd living in Norway. A secular muslim, I don’t see faith as something to be displayed in politics (e.g as a source of laws or government)

I wanted to make it clear to everybody that:

1) Kurds and Jews are historically connected as is documented in post before mine.

2) Kirkuk is a Kurdish city, both by majority of population and historically! The Turcoman are supported by “nazy-like” Turkey.

3) The Kurds are sharing the same faith as the Jews in Syria, Iran, Turkey and parts Iraq - (Yes - they are still tortured, raped and culturally oppressed by their host countries)

4) American Jews and Israeli Jews (Jews in general) should support Kurdish claims for Kurds right to self-determination.

5) Kurdistan is not a fictional story told by daydreamers - It exists in reality and it cannot be raped of its pride and heritage!

6) America (UN, EU- Anybody who has balls) should put an end to the Syrian, Iranian and Turkish goverments torture, abused, molestation, denial and persecution of the Kurds as a people.

7) Kurds are NOT Arabs, NOT Persian and most importantly NOT Turkish… which they all claim.

8) An independent Kurdish state in the Middle East will bring democracy to a long disturbed and violent area of the world.

9) An independent Kurdish state would give Israel a long needed ally to stand against Arab-chauvanism which has dominated the Middle east for far too long.

10) Kurds are the rightfull heirs of Kurdistan and should not be deprived of their GOD GIVEN right to self-determination…

So stand the the facts and so they should be respected as realities rather then swept under the rug - which by the way probably was made in Kurdistan!

Hope all anti-Kurds and anti-Jews can realize that ethnic/sectarian bonds can’t and won’t be broken by outsiders, and that they respect other ethnic groups as enrichment to a world heritage for future generations!

Long live Israel and Kurdistan! Forever we stand united!

shalom This is amazing website and give us useful information. we should remember how many jews were and are in Kurdistan and we are part of this lovely nation and as a result of new kurdistan in federal area in northern Iraq ,this is a good time to invite them to visit their own area. i am kurdish jew in London and hope to have contact with my nation in Israel

horse racing! http://www.horse-racing-results.co.uk Horse Racing Results. Horse Racing Betting. Horse Racing Guides. Horse Racing Life. Live Horse Racing.

I support an independent Kurdistan and would like to improve Kurdish/Jewish ties.

I have read that the 130,000 Kurdish Jews living in Israel have postive memories of Kurds which is quite different from the memories of other places in the Middleast. Jews and Kurds have some of the same enimies. An example Saddam murdered 300,000+ Kurdish men, women, and children he also paid Hamas to murder Jewish men, women and children. And today terrorist like Al Quada would murder both of us.

We all know the history of the jews and kurds. But the question we all should ask ourselfs is: why? Why is this violant still going on? probably many people want to make money out of it

hi, i’m kurdish living in london. i support an idependent israel and kurdistan. i found this article and it very INTERESTING!! please read.

The Genetic Bonds Between Kurds and Jews”

by Kevin Alan Brook

Kurds are the Closest Relatives of Jews

In 2001, a team of Israeli, German, and Indian scientists discovered that the majority of Jews around the world are closely related to the Kurdish people — more closely than they are to the Semitic-speaking Arabs or any other population that was tested. The researchers sampled a total of 526 Y-chromosomes from 6 populations (Kurdish Jews, Kurdish Muslims, Palestinian Arabs, Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazic Jews, and Bedouin from southern Israel) and added extra data on 1321 persons from 12 populations (including Russians, Belarusians, Poles, Berbers, Portuguese, Spaniards, Arabs, Armenians, and Anatolian Turks). Most of the 95 Kurdish Muslim test subjects came from northern Iraq. Ashkenazic Jews have ancestors who lived in central and eastern Europe, while Sephardic Jews have ancestors from southwestern Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East. The Kurdish Jews and Sephardic Jews were found to be very close to each other. Both of these Jewish populations differed somewhat from Ashkenazic Jews, who mixed with European peoples during their diaspora. The researchers suggested that the approximately 12.7 percent of Ashkenazic Jews who have the Eu 19 chromosomes — which are found among between 54 and 60 percent of Eastern European Christians — descend paternally from eastern Europeans (such as Slavs) or Khazars. But the majority of Ashkenazic Jews, who possess Eu 9 and other chromosomes, descend paternally from Judeans who lived in Israel two thousand years ago. In the article in the November 2001 issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics, Ariella Oppenheim of the Hebrew University of Israel wrote that this new study revealed that Jews have a closer genetic relationship to populations in the northern Mediterranean (Kurds, Anatolian Turks, and Armenians) than to populations in the southern Mediterranean (Arabs and Bedouins).

A previous study by Ariella Oppenheim and her colleagues, published in Human Genetics in December 2000, showed that about 70 percent of Jewish paternal ancestries and about 82 percent of Palestinian Arabs share the same chromosomal pool. The geneticists asserted that this might support the claim that Palestinian Arabs descend in part from Judeans who converted to Islam. With their closer relationship to Jews, the Palestinian Arabs are distinctive from other Arab groups, such as Syrians, Lebanese, Saudis, and Iraqis, who have less of a connection to Jews.

A study by Michael Hammer et al., published in PNAS in June 2000, had identified a genetic connection between Arabs (especially Syrians and Palestinians) and Jews, but had not tested Kurds, so it was less complete.

Many Kurds have the “Jewish” Cohen Modal Haplotype

In the 1990s, a team of scientists (including the geneticist Michael Hammer, the nephrologist Karl Skorecki, and their colleagues in England) discovered the existence of a haplotype which they termed the “Cohen modal haplotype” (abbreviated as CMH). Cohen is the Hebrew word for “priest”, and designates descendants of Judean priests from two thousand years ago. Initial research indicated that while only about 3 percent of general Jews have this haplotype, 45 percent of Ashkenazic Cohens have it, while 56 percent of Sephardic Cohens have it. David Goldstein, an evolutionary geneticist at Oxford University, said: “It looks like this chromosomal type was a constituent of the ancestral Hebrew population.” Some Jewish rabbis used the Cohen study to argue that all Cohens with the CMH had descended from Aaron, a High Priest who lived about 3500 years ago, as the Torah claimed. Shortly after, it was determined that 53 percent of the Buba clan of the Lemba people of southern Africa have the CMH, compared to 9 percent of non-Buba Lembas. The Lembas claim descent from ancient Israelites, and they follow certain Jewish practices such as circumcision and refraining from eating pork, and for many geneticists and historians the genetic evidence seemed to verify their claim.

However, it soon became apparent that the CMH is not specific to Jews or descendants of Jews. In a 1998 article in Science News, Dr. Skorecki indicated (in an interview) that some non-Jews also possess the Cohen markers, and that the markers are therefore not “unique or special”. The CMH is very common among Iraqi Kurds, according to a 1999 study by C. Brinkmann et al. And in her 2001 article, Oppenheim wrote: “The dominant haplotype of the Muslim Kurds (haplotype 114) was only one microsatellite-mutation step apart from the CMH…” (Oppenheim 2001, page 1100). Furthermore, the CMH is also found among some Armenians, according to Dr. Levon Yepiskoposyan (Head of the Institute of Man in Yerevan, Armenia), who has studied genetics for many years. Dr. Avshalom Zoossmann-Diskin wrote: “The suggestion that the ‘Cohen modal haplotype’ is a signature haplotype for the ancient Hebrew population is also not supported by data from other populations.” (Zoossmann-Diskin 2000, page 156).

In short, the CMH is a genetic marker from the northern Middle East which is not unique to Jews. However, its existence among many Kurds and Armenians, as well as some Italians and Hungarians, would seem to support the overall contention that Kurds and Armenians are the close relatives of modern Jews and that the majority of today’s Jews have paternal ancestry from the northeastern Mediterranean region.

The Jewish Kingdom of Adiabene in Ancient Kurdistan

In ancient times, the royal house of Adiabene and some of the common people of Adiabene converted to Judaism. The capital city of Adiabene was Arbela (known today by Arabs as Irbil and by Kurds as Hawler). King Izates became closely attached to his new faith, and sent his sons to study Hebrew and Jewish customs in Jerusalem. His successor to the throne was his brother Monobazos II, who also adopted Judaism. In her 2001 study, Oppenheim references the kingdom of Adiabene, but suggests that while Adiabene’s conversion to Judaism “resulted in the assimilation of non-Jews into the community… This recorded conversion does not appear to have had a considerable effect on the Y chromosome pool of the Kurdish Jews.” (Oppenheim 2001, page 1103). Some of the Jewish Adiabenians may have eventually converted to Christianity.

Conclusions

Research has just begun into the ancient ties between Kurds and Jews. It would be interesting to see if the various Jewish groups have as strong a family tie to Kurds in the maternal lineages as they do in the paternal lineages. Preliminary studies indicate that Jewish populations in eastern Europe and Yemen have maternal origins that contain much more non-Israelite ancestry than their paternal origins. Despite this admixture with other groups, the Jewish Judean people ultimately began their existence in an area within or nearby Kurdistan, prior to migrating southwest to Israel. This exciting research showing that Kurds and Jews may have shared common fathers several millennia ago should, hopefully, encourage both Kurds and Jews to explore each others’ cultures and to maintain the friendship that Kurds and Jews enjoyed in northern Iraq in recent times (as chronicled in Michael Rubin’s recent article “The Other Iraq”). As Rubin indicates, the Kurdish leader Mullah Mustafa Barzani once visited Israel and met with Israeli government officials. Rubin refers to the Iraqi Kurds’ “special affinity for Israel” and writes that “In the safe haven of Iraqi Kurdistan, the Jews and Israel are remembered fondly, if increasingly vaguely.” Let us hope that this relationship can be renewed and strengthened.

Well i am a muslim kurd living in Australia. I think there is no relationship between jews and kurds for one reason and that is the jewish is a religion not a race and you can find russian jwes or arab jews beside kurd jews and the attempt to connect the kurds to jews is just for political reasons without any historical findings or facts. I am telling those calling themselves as secular kurds that its nothing to do with Islam. Saddam Hussein is not representing islam in any way and he is not the pope of islam however most of the arabs are inocsent from what he done to kurds. and believe me that the number of kurds killed in clashes between the two big kurdish parties PDK & PUK is much more than the number that saddam killed. I am not defending saddam because he was a dectator but we should see the reality in both faces.

Duhuky

Well i am a muslim kurd living in the UK. i fully support Israel..and hope israel stop favouring Turkey on Kurds and recognise the value of befriending Kurds insead.

Duhuky u read too much of baath litriture on jew and donot understand that even according to Quran israel is a land of Bni Israel..which means sons of Israel..arabs arabised israel and calling it Palestine ..like they in Kirkuk now in Iraqi Kurdistan..finally I reiterate that most of modern well educated Kurds will favour jews on arabs..