In the run-up to Iraqi Kurdistan’s referendum, almost the entire international community lined up against the Iraqi Kurds’ move toward independence. The Iraqi central government called the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s move illegal. Both Iran and Turkey, fearing the precedent the Iraqi Kurdish referendum sends to their own Kurdish populations, have threatened reprisals, the most serious of which could be revealed in the weeks to come. The United States, meanwhile, opposes the referendum because of fears it could undermine the fight against the Islamic State at a time when Kurdish peshmerga and Iraqi forces are on the cusp of driving them out of their last Iraqi stronghold near Hawija. Arab states oppose the Kurds, well, because they’re not Arab. And the broader international community wishes to avoid regional chaos.

Only Israel has voiced full-throated official support for the referendum and an independent Kurdistan. Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed Kurdish independence. Israel “supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to achieve their own state,” he declared.