Population
Historically, a small Arabized population of Kurdish origins exists in Galilee and Jerusalem area, though it has mostly intermixed with local Arabs; their exact numbers are not available since they are counted as ethnic Arabs in the official Israeli census. Some Arabized families of Kurdish background can still be identified by specific surnames. The Kurdish population in Israel is small and is mainly composed of individuals and families, who fled Iraq and Turkey during the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, Iraqi–Kurdish and the Kurdish–Turkish conflicts during the 20th century. In 2006, the number of Kurdish refugees from Turkey was estimated at 200. Another estimate for both Iraqi and Turkish Kurds was 150 persons in 2007. In March 2001, a group of 19 Kurdish men entered Israel via Lebanon, asking for asylum, but were denied. In mid-2001, a group of 42 Kurdish refugees attempted to enter Israel via Lebanon, illegally crossing the Israeli–Lebanese border, but were returned to Lebanon. In 2007, 40 Iraqi Kurdish children, mostly from Iraqi Kurdistan, were hosted with their parents and medically treated in Israel, as part of the project initiated by Israeli ''Save a Child's Heart Organization'' (SACH). In 2013, it was reported that Israel accepted three Kurdish children from Iraqi Kurdistan for medical treatment. The children were settled into Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, southern Tel Aviv area. They were some of the 183 children with Iraqi nationality, entering Israel for medical treatment since the establishment of the program. In January 2015, Yazidi organizations made an official request from Israeli government to absorb Yazidi refugees from Iraq. There was no official statement by Israeli government as a result, but Yazidi sources claimed that refugee absorption took place and thanked Israeli government. There was no response from Israeli Parliament members, upon asking them on this matter of absorbing Yazidi refugees.Relations with Israeli Jewish community of Kurdistani background
Israel is a home to some 200,000 Jews of History of the Jews in Kurdistan, Kurdistani origins, who are mostly descended from nearly 50 thousand Kurdish Jews evacuated from Iraq during Operation Ezra and Nehemiah in the early 1950s. Israeli Jews of Kurdistani background preserve ties with the ethnic Kurdish communities in the Middle East, including with the Kurdish individuals residing in Israel.Notable people
* Moshe Barazani, Iraqi Jew, Iraqi-born Kurdish Jews, Kurdish Jew and a member of Lehi (group), Lehi("Freedom Fighters of Israel," aka the "Stern Gang") underground movement in pre-state Mandatory Palestine, Mandate Palestine during the Jewish insurgency in Palestine * Zvi Bar, Israel, Israeli military officer, police official, and politician * Yosef Shiloach, Israelis, Israeli actor * Yitzhak Mordechai, Israeli former general and politician * Itzik Kala, Israeli singer of Kurdish Jew, Kurdish-Jewish descent who sings in Aramaic, Kurdish languages, Kurdish and Hebrew * Mickey Levy, Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid and Speaker of the Knesset * Mossi Raz, Israeli politician * Ran Raz, computer scientist who works in the area of computational complexity theory * Yona Sabar, Kurdish Jews, Kurdistani Jewish scholar, linguist and researcher * Uri Malmilian, Israeli former Football (soccer), football player and current Coach (sport), manager * Haviv Shimoni, Israeli politician * Itzik Shmuli, Israeli politician who served as the Minister of Labor, Welfare and Social Services and as a Member of the Knesset on behalf of the Israeli Labor Party; formerly chairman of National Union of Israeli Students, and one of the leaders of the 2011 Israeli social justice protests * Zvi Yehezkeli, Israeli television journalist and Documentary film, documentarian * Miki Geva, Israelis, Israeli stand-up comedian and actor. * Or Sasson, retired Israeli Olympic judoka. He won a bronze medal in the Judo at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's +100 kg, +100 kg category at the Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics * Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israeli lawyer and politician and a leader in the Israeli far-right Otzma Yehudit party * Idan Amedi, Israeli singer-songwriter and actor * Yehezkel Zakai, Israeli former politician * Mossi Raz, Israeli politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Meretz * Ran Raz, computer scientist who works in the area of computational complexity theory. He was a professor in the faculty of mathematics and computer science at the Weizmann Institute * Yona Sabar, Kurdish Jews, Kurdistani Jewish scholar, linguist and researcher. He is professor emeritus of Hebrew at the University of California, Los Angeles * Uri Malmilian, Israeli former Football (soccer), football player and current Coach (sport), manager * Haviv Shimoni, Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment (political party), Alignment between 1974 and 1977 * Itzik Shmuli, Israeli politician who served as the Minister of Labor, Welfare and Social Services and as a Member of the Knesset on behalf of the Israeli Labor Party; formerly chairman of National Union of Israeli Students, and one of the leaders of the 2011 Israeli social justice protests * Zvi Yehezkeli, Israeli television journalist and Documentary film, documentarian. He is an Arab affairs correspondent and head of the Arab desk at Israeli Channel 13 News, News 13, the news division of Channel 13 (Israel), Israel 13 * Miki Geva, Israelis, Israeli stand-up comedian and actor * Or Sasson, retired Israeli Olympic judoka. He won a bronze medal in the Judo at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's +100 kg, +100 kg category at the Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics and another one at the Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the second of two Israelis to win two Olympic medals * Yair Lapid – leader of the Yesh Atid party, minister of finance (2013–March 2015) & minister of foreign affairs * Yosef Lapid – former leader of the ShinuiSee also
*Kurdish Jews in Israel *Iraqi Kurdistan–Israel relationsReferences
{{Kurdish diaspora Ethnic groups in Israel Middle Eastern diaspora in Israel Kurdish diaspora in Israel, Israeli people of Kurdish descent, Iraqi diaspora in Israel Ethnic groups in the Middle East