Kurdish Jews and non-Jews demonstrated on Sunday in front of the American consulate in Jerusalem and expressed support for the independence of Kurdistan ahead of a referendum on Kurdish independence in northern Iraq.
Yaakov Yaakov, a senior member of the organization of Kurdish Jews in Israel, told Arutz Sheva, "In my opinion, the state of Israel wants a Kurdish state to arise because of the situation." He added, "There are currently almost no Jews in Kurdistan. There are Jewish women who converted to Islam, but most of the Jews immigrated in the Ezra and Nehemiah campaign in 1951."