By Halmat Palani

There is no conflict in the Middle East, or arguably in the world, that divides people more than the Israel–Palestine conflict. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this issue, from university students to social media influencers, academics to world leaders. However, few people understand the plight of both Jews and Palestinians better than the Kurds. Kurds, too, have been a scattered and persecuted minority.

The Kurds have a historical connection to Palestine that dates back to the time of Salah ad-Din, the great Muslim Kurdish leader revered for his role in defeating the Crusaders in the Holy Land. To expand and protect the vast Ayyubid sultanate which he founded, Salah ad-Din placed many Kurdish settlers in Palestine, Egypt and Syria. The descendants of those Kurdish settlers continue to live in Palestine today, but they have largely assimilated into Arab culture, abandoning their Kurdish roots and language.

Similarly, Jews have lived in Kurdistan for centuries, dating back to the 12th century by some accounts. However, most migrated to Israel with the establishment of the Jewish state and the Right of Returnlaw, which gave all Jews the legal right to immigrate to Israel. Today, there are between 200,000 to 300,000 Kurdish Jews in Israel who continue to celebrate their Kurdish roots but have adopted the Hebrew language.

While the Kurds have a historical connection with the two nations, they are not monolithic in their views on the Israel–Palestine conflict. This has become more evident since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza.

Recently, pictures of assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh have circulated in Kurdish social media. This attention to Haniyeh has alarmed many Kurds, including myself, about the growing number of Kurds who seem to support Hamas. They are expressing solidarity with Hamas due largely to the fact that Kurds and Palestinians share a common Muslim identity. Furthermore, Kurds see their own struggle mirrored in the Palestinian experience.

Yet the Kurdish and Palestinian situation is different. Kurds are a diverse lot. Not all of them are Muslim. Some belong to ancient religious communities like the Yezidi and the Yarsani, who have faced persecution by Muslims seeking religious homogenization.

Islamist Kurdish factions that support Hamas, including some political groups in the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, add another layer of complexity. Many of these groups have praised Haniyeh as a martyr and resistance fighter despite Hamas’s use of terrorist tactics like suicide bombings and its support for leaders like Saddam Hussein, who murdered countless Kurds. Furthermore, I have searched both in English and Kurdish and found no evidence that these Islamist Kurds expressed any sorrow over........

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