Netanyahu calls for Kurdish independence

TEL AVIV , Israel, June 30 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for independence of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, supporting the concept of partitioning Iraq instead of attempting to unify it in the face of occupation by militants.

Netanyahu, speaking Sunday to the Institute of National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv, Israel, think tank, also urged support of Jordan in its battle with what he termed "Islamic extremism."

"We need to support efforts by the international community to strengthen Jordan and support the aspirations of the Kurds for independence. I think it's our common interest to make sure that a moderate, stable regime like (Jordan) is able to defend itself," he said.

We must be able to stop the terrorism and fundamentalism that can reach us from the east at the Jordan line and not in the suburbs of Tel Aviv," he added.

Iraqi Kurds have mobilized to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants who have overtaken much of Iraq.

Netanyahu's comments came after ISIS announced establishment, Sunday, of a caliphate, or Islamic state, on territory it had conquered.