Syrian Kurds are fighting for survival – and Israel’s future is tied to theirs - opinion

Reports indicate Islamist detainees are being released from prisons in Deir ez-Zor, raising urgent concerns about a renewed jihadist threat. Deir ez-Zor is not just a strategic town on the Euphrates River in eastern Syria: It is part of a land steeped in history. The Euphrates marks the biblical border of the children of Abraham. This is the land where Abraham settled, amassed wealth and influence, and lived in coexistence with people of different faiths. The values he embodied – respect, dignity, coexistence – still shape the cultural DNA of the region.

Today, those same values, reflected in Kurdish society through respect for human dignity, women’s rights, and pluralism, are under direct threat from extremist ideologies that seek to destroy them.

Once again, it is the Kurds who are paying the price.

They have built governance systems that are pluralistic and comparatively stable, rare qualities in a region fractured by sectarianism and authoritarianism. They have fought on the front lines against ISIS at enormous cost. And each time geopolitical interests shift, they are abandoned. Their lives, their security, and their future are treated as expendable.

If the United States does not intervene decisively, the Syrian regime will not stop until Kurdish-held territory west of the Euphrates is severely weakened.

Meanwhile, the narrative that Abu Mohammad al-Julani has become a “legitimate partner” needs to be closely scrutinized by Western powers. Reports from Kurdish areas in Rojava (North and East Syria) describe widespread abuses under his command, even as al-Julani issues statements promising respect for Kurdish language, culture, and political expression.

Can he be trusted? His forces have been terrorizing civilians, desecrating bodies, and driving communities from their land. Whether he is orchestrating this or tolerating it is almost irrelevant. Leaders are judged by the actions of the forces they command.

But this crisis does not end with the Kurds.

The Kurds, like the Druze, are indigenous, non-Islamist minorities who stand in the way of extremist expansion. And they are natural allies of Israel. I know this not just as an analyst but personally. Since October 7, I have seen Kurdish individuals speak publicly and fearlessly in solidarity with Israel, often at serious personal risk. They understand what it means to live under the threat of annihilation, to face movements that deny a people’s right to exist in their ancestral homeland.

There is also a deeper resonance. Jews and Kurds are both ancient peoples shaped by exile, abandonment, and the persistent longing for homeland and dignity. Both have survived through resilience, shared values, and a commitment to coexistence rather than domination. The systematic dismantling of Kurdish society is not only a regional tragedy – it is a blow against the values that sustain the region itself.

Western media often avoid stating a simple truth: once Islamist forces succeed in dismantling one minority autonomy zone, they move on to the next. The Druze in Sweida are watching Rojava closely. Israel has made it clear it will not allow the Druze to be harmed, but deterrence only works if it is taken seriously early, not after buffer zones fall and extremists are already in place.

If neither Israel nor the United States acts, Kurdish power will be further weakened, minorities exposed, buffer zones eliminated, and extremist forces will move steadily toward Israel’s borders – toward Jordan, southern Syria, and ultimately the Golan. This should concern Jerusalem profoundly.

Supporting the Kurds is not only a moral position: It is a matter of Israeli security. Turkey openly promotes hostility toward Israel, destabilizes the region through proxies, and seeks to extend influence over former Ottoman territories.

Here is a message Israel should hear clearly: Turkey’s president, Erdogan, was selected by US President Donald Trump as a partner in shaping the Gaza peace plan, but we now know more than ever that he is a central architect of regional destabilization. That is a stark lesson in misjudged alliances.

Israel has no territorial ambition in northern Syria. But it has a vital interest in preventing an unbroken belt of Islamist-controlled territory from Idlib to the south. A crushed Kurdish region is not just a local tragedy – it is a strategic failure with regional consequences.

Yes, from a security perspective, protecting the Kurds maintains a buffer that shields Israel. But beyond strategy, there is a deeper responsibility. We speak up for the Kurds because they are human beings. We see their suffering, their courage, and their perseverance. Their lives matter. Their society matters. Their values – respect, coexistence, dignity, and resilience – matter.

To remain silent is to abandon not just a people, but the principles that make the region worth defending.

Israel and the West must act now. Intelligence must be shared. Diplomatic and military pressure must be applied.

Clear deterrence must be communicated to Ankara and Damascus that further ethnic cleansing and destabilization carry real consequences.

This is the moment to choose: to stand with the Kurds, to preserve the buffer, and to recognize the humanity in their struggle before it is too late.

We must see them. We must speak for them. And we must act – for their sake and for ours.