{"id":20318,"date":"2010-07-02T05:32:11","date_gmt":"2010-07-02T03:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=20318"},"modified":"2023-04-05T00:18:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T21:18:21","slug":"israelis-trained-kurds-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2010\/07\/02\/israelis-trained-kurds-in-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"Israelis trained Kurds in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: A number of Israeli companies have won contracts with the Kurdish government in northern Iraq to train and equip Kurdish security forces and build an international airport, Yedioth Ahronoth reports; al-Qaeda warning of attack prompts hasty exit of all Israeli instructors from region<\/strong> Anat Tal-Shir<\/span> Latest Update: 12.01.05, 10:38 \/\u00a0Israel News<\/p>\n

Dozens of Israelis with a background in elite military combat training have been working for private Israeli companies in northern Iraq where they helped the Kurds establish elite anti-terror units, Israel\u2019s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronot revealed Thursday. <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to the report, the Kurdish government contracted Israeli security and communications companies to train Kurdish security forces and provide them with advanced equipment.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Motorola Inc. and Magalcom Communications and Computers won contracts with the Kurdish government to the tune of hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n

The flagship of the contracts is the construction of an international airport in the northern Kurdish city of Ibril, a stepping stone towards the fulfillment of Kurdish national aspirations for independence.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to Motorola and Magalcom, a company owned by Israeli entrepreneur Shlomi Michaels is in full business partnership with the Kurdish government, providing strategic consultation on economic and security issues.<\/p>\n

The strategic consultation company was initially established by former Mossad chief Danny Yatom (Labor) and Michaels, yet Yatom sold his shares upon his election to the Knesset.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not all. Leading Israeli companies in the field of security and counter-terrorism have set up a training camp under the codename Z at a secret location in a desertic region in northern Iraq, where Israeli experts provide training in live fire exercises and self-defense to Kurdish security forces.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Al-Qaeda warning prompts hasty Israeli exit <\/strong><\/p>\n

Tons of equipment,<\/span> including motorcycles, tractors, sniffer dogs, systems to upgrade Kalashnikov rifles, and bulletproof vests, have been shipped to Iraq\u2019s northern region, with most products stamped \u2018Made in Israel<\/span>.\u2019
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/strong>The Israeli instructors entered Iraq through Turkey using their Israeli passports, undercover as agriculture experts and infrastructure engineers.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Kurds had insisted the cooperation projects were kept secret, fearing exposure would motivate terror groups to target their Jewish guests.<\/p>\n

Recent warnings that al-Qaeda may plan an attack on Kurdish training camps, prompted a hasty exit of all Israeli trainers from Iraq\u2019s northern Kurdish regions.<\/p>\n

The Defense Ministry said in response to the report that, \u201cWe haven\u2019t allowed Israelis to work in Iraq, and each activity, if performed, was a private initiative, without our authorization, and is under the responsibility of the employers and the employees involved.”<\/p>\n

“The Defense Ministry renews its warning to Israeli citizens who choose to ignore our guidance and travel to banned destinations.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: A number of Israeli companies have won contracts with the Kurdish government in northern Iraq to train and equip Kurdish security forces and build an international airport, Yedioth Ahronoth reports; al-Qaeda warning of attack prompts hasty exit of all Israeli instructors from region Anat Tal-Shir Latest Update: 12.01.05, 10:38 \/\u00a0Israel News Dozens of Israelis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":32532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,148],"tags":[3200,3197,494,3201,3195,905,3198,3199,3194,3196,3202],"class_list":["post-20318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iraq","category-israel","tag-codename-z","tag-danny-yatom","tag-kurdish-jews","tag-made-in-israel","tag-magalcom","tag-mossad","tag-mossad-chief","tag-mossad-chief-danny-yatom","tag-motorola","tag-shlomi-michaels","tag-terrorism-made-in-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}