Vivienne Ziner: Jewish people pray for independent Kurdistan

“We pray that the Kurdish people will have jurisdiction over their ancient homeland.”

TORONTO (Kurdistan 24) – The people of Israel have great respect for the Kurds, and we pray they will gain their independence, a member of the Jewish community in Canada said in a recent interview.

Vivienne Ziner, a member of B’nai Brith Canada, told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday that Jewish people are great admirers of the people of Kurdistan because “the Kurdish people and the Jewish people are very similar.”

“We have experienced a lot of hate and resentment throughout centuries,” she explained, “a lot of it has to do, I believe, with jealousy, because we are both hard-working, committed, industrious, and I think we are very smart peoples on both sides.”

“I have great respect for the Kurdish people,” Ziner added.

Indeed, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was one of the only world leaders who voiced open support for the Kurdistan Region as it prepared to hold an independence referendum in September 2017.

In a statement released by Netanyahu’s office ahead of the historic vote, Netanyahu said Israel “supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of their own.”

Ziner reminded that the Jewish people have great empathy for the Kurdish people because they know what Kurds have endured.

“We, after years, and years, and centuries, and millennia of genocide, pogroms, and war, we finally have our ancestral homeland, Israel,” she told Kurdistan 24.

“We pray that the Kurdish people will have jurisdiction over their ancient homeland as well.” 

Editing by John J. Catherine