JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied Turkish claims of covert involvement in Iraqi Kurdistan’s recent independence vote, reiterating however his “sympathy” for the Kurdish people.
On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel’s intelligence agency played a role in the Sept. 25 referendum, citing as proof the waving of Israeli flags during celebrations for the overwhelming “yes” victory.
“This shows one thing, that this administration (in northern Iraq) has a history with Mossad, they are hand-in-hand together,” Erdogan said in a televised speech.
Speaking at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu noted Turkey’s support for Hamas which rules Gaza, before denying Erdogan’s charge.
“I can understand why those who support Hamas want to see the Mossad wherever things don’t work out for them,” Netanyahu said in remarks relayed by his office.
“But Israel had no part in the Kurdish referendum, aside from the deep, natural and years-long sympathy of the Jewish people to the Kurdish people and its aspirations,” he said.
Israel has been the only country to openly support Kurdish independence, with Netanyahu backing “the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of its own.”
Netanyahu did not specify how and where such a state should come into being.
Turkey fiercely opposed the referendum and has threatened sanctions against the region, reflecting its worries about its own sizeable Kurdish minority.
Netanyahu's remarks came as Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, said Israel had come out in support of Kurdish statehood and described the referendum as part of a US-Israeli plot to carve up the region.
Nasrallah said the Kurdish independence vote marked a first step toward the partition of the Middle East, warning that this would lead to “internal wars” and must be opposed.
He said events in northern Iraq were a threat to the whole region and not just Iraq and neighboring states with Kurdish populations.
“It will open the door to partition,” Nasrallah said.
Hezbollah’s operatives are currently fighting along with other Iran-backed militias and the Syrian army against Daesh in eastern Syria.
“Daesh is at its end. It is a matter of time in Iraq and Syria,” Nasrallah said.
He said counter attacks mounted by Daesh in eastern Syria in the last two days were expected as the group was besieged, adding that it was “incapable of recovering ground.”
Israel denies Turkish claim of involvement in Kurd vote
Israel denies Turkish claim of involvement in Kurd vote
January settler attacks cause record West Bank displacement since Oct 2023: UN
- At least 694 Palestinians were forcefully driven from their homes last month, according OCHA figures
- OHCHR said in late January that settler violence has become a key driver of forced displacement in the West Bank
RAMALLAH: Israeli settler violence and harassment in the occupied West Bank displaced nearly 700 Palestinians in January, the United Nations said Thursday, the highest rate since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.
At least 694 Palestinians were forcefully driven from their homes last month, according to figures from the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA, which compiles data from various United Nations agencies.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said in late January that settler violence has become a key driver of forced displacement in the West Bank.
January’s displacement numbers were particularly high in part due to the displacement of an entire herding community in the Jordan Valley, Ras Ein Al-Auja, whose 130 families left after months of harassment.
“What is happening today is the complete collapse of the community as a result of the settlers’ continuous and repeated attacks, day and night, for the past two years,” Farhan Jahaleen, a Bedouin resident, told AFP at the time.
Settlers in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, use herding to establish a presence on agricultural lands used by Palestinian communities and gradually deny them access to these areas, according to a 2025 report by Israeli NGO Peace Now.
To force Palestinians out, settlers resort to harassment, intimidation and violence, “with the backing of the Israeli government and military,” the settlement watchdog said.
“No one is putting the pressure on Israel or on the Israeli authorities to stop this and so the settlers feel it, they feel the complete impunity that they’re just free to continue to do this,” said Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of NGOS working to support Palestinian communities against displacement.
She pointed to a lack of attention on the West Bank as another driving factor.
“All eyes are focused on Gaza when it comes to Palestine, while we have an ongoing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and nobody’s paying attention,” she told AFP.
West Bank Palestinians are also displaced when Israel’s military destroys structures and dwellings it says are built without permits.
In January, 182 more Palestinians were displaced due to home demolitions, according to OCHA.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to more than 500,000 Israelis living in settlements and outposts considered illegal under international law.
Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank.
