Abandoning the Kurds: Israel’s Strategic Setback
Militias advance, Kurds pay, and the next round of war for Israel
Protests, news stories, and social media drives often focus on well-known targets, and Jews are among the most common. I have noticed that public attention surges when blame falls on Jews, but it stays low when Kurds of Rojava at Eastern Kurdistan suffer violence and displacement. No one seems to care about the Kurds because their struggles do not involve hostility towards Israel. In contrast, all the focus goes to supporting Palestinians since their conflicts centre on Jews. Even now, the genocide in Sudan draws almost no coverage or outrage because no Jewish involvement exists to spark interest. Coverage of Kurdish issues appears less frequently, and when it does, it tends to be short-lived, soon giving way to topics that attract more people and easier messages.
Why has the world so readily abandoned the Kurds of Syria after they bore the brunt of fighting ISIS? The events in Rojava do not match the structure of many protests or media reports. They need explanation of the background, identification of the groups involved, and recognition that the situation lacks simple divisions. Kurds in Rojava fought ISIS and paid a heavy price, with reports often putting the death toll above 15,000, a number that shows the extent of the loss. After that, attention from abroad dropped off, and Kurds dealt with new attacks from forces and militias connected to the Syrian government, jihadis now dressed as the Syrian state army. From the Kurdish side, these attacks seem like a continuation of the earlier extremist threats, despite changes in group names or appearances. This abandonment feels like a betrayal, especially when international powers pulled back support, leaving Kurds exposed to Turkish incursions and Syrian regime attacks without meaningful intervention.
See Israel’s policies on Kurdish groups, which stem from concerns about security, possible reprisals from neighbours, and the boundaries on what a country can do publicly without worsening tensions. I recognise those factors and do not assume that government decisions should follow individual connections. Still, this creates a real policy challenge: Kurds want assistance after carrying much of the burden against ISIS, while Israel and other countries measure the risks of getting involved against their other goals. On top of that, the general public debate adds another layer, as criticism aimed at Jews tends to generate more intense reactions than calls for attention to Kurdish problems, which affects what stories get prominence and what stays on the edges.
The sharpest failure here is how the US and its allies deserted Syrian Kurds in 2019, greenlighting Turkey’s offensive that displaced hundreds of thousands, a move that prioritized short-term alliances and led to the recent power reality that Turkey’s proxies have imposed in Syria. And if anybody thinks the triumph of the radical Islamist militias over the enlightened open society of the Kurds will enhance peace and stability in the Middle East isn’t just abandoning the Kurds, they must be a fool. Make no mistake: this betrayal doesn’t just erase a heroic stand against terror; it guarantees more chaos, more suffering, the next round of war for Israel, and a darker future for the entire region.
