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Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmN9MGs6URI&feature=youtu.be
Video: Why Kurdistan Matters
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dore Gold - The Kurds have been repeatedly targeted for nothing less than mass murder. During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s the army of Saddam Hussein entered Kurdistan and engaged in the destruction of 2,000 Kurdish villages; over 100,000 Kurds were slain in those operations. 5,000 Kurds died as a result of Iraqi use of chemical weapons against them. The Kurds have been one of the strongest allies of the West in the Middle East and have led the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. They have also built up democratic institutions in northern Iraq and the economic progress they've made has been impressive. The Kurds are a nation that deserves national self-expression. In the long term, they are a strategic asset to the entire Western alliance and deserve diplomatic and political support. Amb. Dore Gold, former director general of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israeli ambassador to the UN, is president of the Jerusalem Center.