The proposed paper would examine the Kurdish Jews in Israel as an ethnic minority and how their ethnic identity as Kurds impact their political activism within the State of Israel and influences Israel’s engagement with the Kurdish Question.
Kurdish Jews are primarily descendants of the immigrants of Jewish communities who resided in Kurdish regions for generations. Mass immigration of Kurdish Jews to the State of Israel happened in early 1950s. Although the Kurdish Jewry has become well integrated into the Israel’s socio-cultural melange, but has nevertheless maintained their roots and traditions, through ceremonies and festivals like Saharane. Israel has remained one of the few countries to publicly support the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq and the Kurdish people’s aspirations and the Kurdish Jewry plays a significant role in such state sponsored support.
The paper would proceed by tracing the origins of Kurdish Jews and the history of their immigration to the land of Israel both prior to and after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Next section would elaborate on the cultural traditions of Kurdish Jews and the ethnic organizations established by them in Israel and its impact on the socio-cultural and political landscape in Israel. Subsequent sections will analyse how the Kurdish Question shapes political activism of Kurdish Jews in Israel and how such political activism has in turn shaped Israel’s transnational engagement with the Kurdish Question in Iraq, Syria and Turkey.