Kurdistan

Niswan Zalud, 22, a Yazidi man whose family fled ISIS, Shingal, Iraqi Kurdistan. (Seth J. Frantzman)

PHOTOS: A modern genocide — Yazidi survivors in Shingal

Text and photos by Seth J. Frantzman In August 2014 the extremist group calling itself Islamic State (ISIS) swept through a part of northern Iraq inhabited by the Yazidi religious minority. ISIS had already broadcast to the world their intention to exterminate “un-believers” and those they opposed. They had massacred 1,600 Shia army cadets at Camp Speicher…

By +972 Magazine January 1, 2016

Israelis of Kurdish origin demonstrate in solidarity with the Yazidi community in front of the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, August 13, 2014. The Yazidi community in northern Iraq has recently been attacked by extremists of Islamic State. The protesters called for U.S intervention. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

The Kurds must not be abandoned again, this time to ISIS

If there are any people on earth who deserve the world’s protection from slaughter, it is the Kurds. Despite the stereotype of Mizrahi Jews in Israel resenting Arabs because of the way they were treated in the old country, there are plenty of Mizrahim who have good memories of their relations with their former Muslim…

By Larry Derfner October 9, 2014

A soldier in the Kurdish military or peshmerga attempts to direct crowds of internally displaced people waiting outside the Khazer Checkpoint between Nineveh and Erbil Provinces in Iraqi Kurdistan, July 9, 2014. (Photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Why Israel must help the Kurds in Iraq

The Yezidis are presented in mainstream accounts as mere props in a play entitled, ‘Militant Islam and its horrors in the Middle East.’ But the story of the Kurdish people is much more than just a scene — or cannon fodder — in an IS exhibition of horror. A Kurdish Jew in Israel calls on…

By Haokets September 1, 2014

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Jewish-Kurdish singer Ilana Eliya on stage with her band. (photo: Orrling/CC BY-SA 3.0)

Longing for Zion, dreaming of Kurdistan

More than 80 years after first immigrating to Israel, Kurdish Jews still maintain ties to their traditions and culture, as well as to their non-Jewish ethnic kin. The Israeli government has ignored efforts to preserve their language and music; but now, the younger generation is taking matters into its own hands. By Hagar Shezaf All…

By Cafe Gibraltar November 10, 2013

Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum June 2012( World Economic Forum CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Iranian nuclear standoff: Where does Turkey stand?

Despite its leaders’ efforts to broker an agreement, Turkey seems to be accepting the possibility of an attack on Iran as a last resort. Now its priority is to prepare for that eventuality, so that a military conflict does not take it by surprise. By Aylin Gurzel FAMAGUSTA – Turkey has tried to broker negotiations between…

By +972 Magazine October 22, 2012