Israel tried to drag the Kurds into its war with Iran and use them as cannon fodder knowing well it could be disastrous for Kurds
Now that we see that the US wants to end the Iran war without victory, it was wise of the Kurdish groups to stay out of that conflict
Trump’s blame of the Kurds over Iran is now well known, but there is an equally large gap in the Israeli narrative, especially when it comes to blaming Turkey.
Iraqi Kurds and Turkey were, in fact, broadly aligned in opposing involvement in the invasion plan, largely because it depended on using the Kurdistan Region as a launchpad. There is substantial evidence for this, including a clear senior KRG statement to CNN saying they were “terrified” of being dragged into the conflict.
Israeli media and officials have repeatedly claimed that Turkey, and Erdogan in particular, persuaded Trump to back down. What this framing leaves out is that Iraqi Kurdish leaders themselves reached out to Turkey to help persuade Washington not to use Iraqi Kurdistan as a staging ground. This also helps explain why Trump said on March 8 that he had ruled out the plan because he did not want Kurds “harmed or killed.”
For Iraqi Kurds, including the KDP, this would have been an existential gamble. In retrospect, resisting the plan was a wise decision. Lobbying Turkey was also rational. Otherwise, the KRG could have ended up abandoned by Trump and then punished by Iran with ballistic missiles. Iran barely used a dozen ballistic missiles against targets in the Kurdistan Region, and its targeting there was far less severe than in much of the Gulf, largely because the KRG mostly had stayed out of the plan.
The risks would not have stopped there. Shia militias would likely have pushed from the south, while relations with Turkey could have ruptured completely. Ankara is the one actor the KRG cannot afford to turn into an enemy. For that reason, the Israeli framing that the Kurdish front collapsed simply because of Turkey is incomplete and misleading. Iraqi Kurdish self-preservation was also central to the story.