To Participate In The Following Field Trip On This Date Recruiting Presentation For: Fill & Download for Free

I can share a few.I went to India for over a month on business, pleasure and personal exploration a couple years ago. I went early with my wife to Goa, before doing business, and it was literally just like the movie, @The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), as monsoon season ran late and we were the only people in the entire place. It was a 40 hour trip door to door to get there from Austin TX and American Airlines even lost my wife's luggage. But the people were wonderful all the way.After Goa I attended to business in Mumbai, Coimbatore, Polachi, Bangalore, Pondicherry, Delhi, Ahmedabad and etc., visiting, presenting and recruiting students, professors and administrators at the various IIT's and IIM's around the country. Even though India was just one of 100 countries that participated in the global social innovation challenge I designed, everyone spoke English and it was easy for me to see a broad and deep interest in social innovation and social entrepreneurship at all levels – it's in people's bones there, not simply a concept. The students, professors and administrators were all fantastic and incredibly welcoming to me.I was also very fortunate to meet people of all walks of life beyond being a tourist, both by accident and by choice – from trash pickers to having coffee with the ex-CEO of Microsoft India, to priests in Pondicherry who had me haul their cart throughout the entire city during Ganesh Chaturthi festival, while residents came out and prayed, grasping their necks and offering fruit – it was a transformational, live and purely spontaneous experience for me. I wandered deep into neighborhood streets where people stopped me and were somewhat shocked to see me, but always helpful. I even got a great cup of masala chai for 5 rupees, native rates baby. I felt comfortable no matter where I was and the residents were just awesome in showing me things I'd never had thought to see... and also try to sell me some stuff, but fair is fair. And then I visited @Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati and had my epiphany of making a global movement to improve the world. His wisdom still informs my work to this day.Yes, in my business I succeeded very well in recruiting many more supporters for the global challenge and we grew to over 350,000 – but that was the least interesting part. India awoke something personal in me that before my visit was only a superficial concept... regardless of all the negatives that might persist about India in foreign and local press, the people and the culture opened up wide to me and appeared as even more civilized in spirit and aware of it on a day to day basis than anywhere else I've been to date. I even ate everything and drank everything the locals did without mishap or indigestion... from filter coffee to the masala chai, refreshing lime soda, meals and thali, to homemade cooking prepared by friends at their home to street vendors of all types of foods and especially my very favorite – fresh coconuts every day. Oh yes! It was wondrous and wonderful and it all seemed just right to me.(note: I've been eating omnivore raw foods for over a decade... and even ate raw meat while in India. Yum! No problems.)So I must say this as a caveat to my experience: it may be well impossible to separate or expand my experience to others because of the following parable and American folktale:A traveler came upon an old farmer hoeing in his field beside the road. Eager to rest his feet, the wanderer hailed the countryman, who seemed happy enough to straighten his back and talk for a moment."What sort of people live in the next town?" asked the stranger."What were the people like where you've come from?" replied the farmer, answering the question with another question."They were a bad lot. Troublemakers all, and lazy too. The most selfish people in the world, and not a one of them to be trusted. I'm happy to be leaving the scoundrels.""Is that so?" replied the old farmer. "Well, I'm afraid that you'll find the same sort in the next town.Disappointed, the traveler trudged on his way, and the farmer returned to his work.Some time later another stranger, coming from the same direction, hailed the farmer, and they started to talk. "What sort of people live in the next town?" he asked."What were the people like where you've come from?" replied the farmer once again."They were the best people in the world. Hard working, honest, and friendly. I'm sorry to be leaving them.""Fear not," said the farmer. "You'll find the same sort in the next town."I'll be back to Mother India someday... preferably sooner on somebody else's rupee, so invite me to come speak – I'd be delighted!

I really love reading the answers by all the armchair “experts” who get their so-called facts from Facebook and god knows what other fake news sites. Apparently, they’re experts on everything, despite never having lived in the region, not knowing even basic history, who probably didn't even known who Kurds or other ethnic groups in the region were until ISIS. And now all of a sudden they know more then the people actually living thru these events…how interesting…Anyways, back to actual FACTS!Kurds were divided into 4 regions after the Treaty of Lausanne; Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran. Since the question only asks about the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, I will only focus on those two regions.Iraqi Kurds (Bashuri Kurds)Yes, Israel does support the Kurds in Iraq and has in an official capacity since 1960, although much of it has been covert. The relationship between the Kurds and Israel; however, extends much earlier then 1960, as many Kurds in Iraq helped to smuggle Jews to Israel during the Farhud genocide. In turn, Israel helped Kurds during the “Anfal Genocide” (https://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqanfal/ANFALINT.htm) Saddam committed against the Kurdish community (In which Saddam killed an estimated 150,000–200,000 Kurds, forcibly relocated hundreds of thousands more (many of whom died in the process) and razed hundreds of villages to the ground.) Many tribes in Kurdistan were also of Jewish descent, coming from tribes that resettled there after Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel. So, the relationship has been a long and mutually beneficial one.“Israeli expert on Iraqi Kurdistan-Israel relations Prof. Ofra Bengio of Tel Aviv University and the Moshe Dayan Center told the Magazine that the Kurds are deeply interested in Israel, and that her own book The Kurds of Iraq was translated into Kurdish.“Both countries’ legitimacy is contested by its neighbors, which the Kurds understand as a mutual fate, a shared history,” said Bengio. “There is also an actual shared history. Jews lived on relatively good terms in Kurdistan, and Israel’s ties with the Kurds trace back to the 1960s and earlier. The Kurds see the Israeli nation-building project as a model and consider Zionist leaders inspirational.”Kurds in SyriaThe relationship with the Kurds in Syria; however, has been much more recent, as the Kurds only recently attained autonomy there over the past couple years. While “Israel does not have formal relations with the Syrian Kurds and they have many different interests, an analysis of the regional alliances will reveal that the status of Rojava is relevant to Jerusalem’s national security interest in undermining Iran’s hegemony.” (Why Rojava matters for Israel)Typically, Israel usually tries to avoid taking a public stand on political strife in neighboring countries, so for the past six years, Israel has followed a “policy of non-intervention” in Syria except when the security of its northern borders are challenged. So far, it has been careful to stay out of the politics of the civil war in Syria and limit its involvement, at least publicly, to targeted security concerns and humanitarian matters.However, Israel’s efforts to strike alliances with effective groups on the ground have failed. Tehran is clearly determined to establish a foothold on Israel’s northern border and set up bases for Hezbollah, which would amount to a Syrian version of the Lebanese militia. It appears abundantly clear that the Kurds are the most qualified (if not the only candidate ) in Syria on which Israel can count for support.” (The Syrian Kurds: Israel's forgotten ally )So if Israel supports the Kurds in Syria, they cannot do so openly, as their policy has been to keep silent about any presence they have Syria. Most likely they do, even if it’s not direct, as the Kurds are the only buffer between Israel and other nations which are hostile to Israel. Considering that the United States and France directly support, train and equip the Syrian Kurds, who have also received assistance from countries such as France and Germany, it is not unfathomable to think Israel would help as well, albeit indirectly or covertly.Israeli TV Reports From Syrian Democratic Forces-held Territory For First Time EverRead on for a more detailed answer:The Kurdish and Jewish relationship goes back centuries:In antiquity:The Jewish community in Mesopotamia was one of the oldest in the world, dating back to the Babylonian conquest of the southern tribes of Israel, (mostly the tribe of Judah) in 586 BCE. A smaller group of Israelites were taken into captivity almost 150 years earlier from the northern part of Israel by Assyria, in 722 BCE.The Medes\kurdish relationship with the Jews:2 Kings 17:6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.First mention of the Medes in Scripture is found in the prophetic utterance of Isaiah when he declared 175 years before it was fulfilled, “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it” (Isaiah 13:17; cp. 21:2).Jeremiah also states that the Medes will be used of God to destroy Babylon: “Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple” (Jeremiah 51:11; cp. 51:28).“While the prophetic record concerning the Medes and the Persians is clear and its fulfillment is confirmed by history, its principal importance is historical rather than prophetic. In contrast to the Babylonian Empire which is significant for its destruction of Jerusalem, the city of God, beginning Gentile dominion over Israel which will not culminate until Christ comes in His second advent, the rise of the Medes and the Persians is important as forming the background of Israel’s partial restoration.Three of the historical books, namely, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther and three of the minor prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi have their context in the reign of the Medo-Persian Empire. During this period the captives of Judah were permitted to go back to Jerusalem and restore their ancient city and its temple. The key to the Babylonian Empire is Gentile dominion over Jerusalem. The key to the Empire of the Medes and the Persians is restoration of Jerusalem.Daniel gives a whole chapter to the account of his being cast into the lions’ den. This important episode in the life of Daniel, while affording many spiritual lessons of God’s care over His prophet as well as foreshadowing God’s protection over the people of Israel as a whole, illustrates the beneficent attitude of the Medes and the Persians to the people whom they had conquered. Their deference to individual religious faith is manifested in the attitude of Darius to Daniel and his earnest desire that Daniel might be delivered from the lions.Darius himself, described in Daniel 5:31 as “Darius the Median,” is properly identified as Gobryas or Gubaru, a governor of Babylon appointed by Cyrus the supreme monarch of the empire of the Medes and the Persians. (Cyrus II or Cyrus the Great reigned from 559 b.c. until he was killed in battle in 530 b.c.) Darius the Mede is mentioned a number of times in Daniel (6:1, 6, 9, 25, 28; 9:1; 11:1). Darius seems to have reigned under Cyrus in governing the southern portion of the kingdom known as the Fertile Crescent. The statement that “Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian” (Daniel 6:28) must therefore be interpreted as the reign of Darius under the contemporary reign of Cyrus.”In contemporary history:The Kurdish and Israeli governments share a long-winded relationship, “dating back to the eighth century when Kurdistan was home to the Jewish Benjamin tribe”. Today, over 200,000 Jewish-Kurds have resettled in modern-day Israel after the ‘Farhud’ violence under the Hussein regime, and have carved out strong pro-Kurdish sentiment in the Israeli political sphere.8th Century:Tradition holds that Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin first arrived in the area of modern Kurdistan after the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC. According to the Torah, it is believed that the tribe of Benjamin is one of the ten tribes of Israel which were dispersed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire circa 722 BCE.12th Century:An ancient tradition relates that the “Jews of Kurdistan are the descendants of the Ten Tribes from the time of the Assyrian exile. The first to mention this was R. *Benjamin of Tudela , the 12th century traveler who visited Kurdistan in about 1170 and found more than 100 Jewish communities. In the town of *Amadiya alone, there were 25,000 Jews who spoke the language of the Targum (Aramaic) and whose numbers included scholars.” The Jews of Kurdistan spoke an Aramaic with insertions of Turkish, Persian, Kurdish, Arabic, and Hebrew words. They called it the "language of the Targum" or Lishna Yehudiyya("language of the Jews"), as well as Lashon ha-Galut. The Arabs called it jabalī, i.e., "of the mountains," because it was essentially spoken by the inhabitants of the mountainsBenjamin of Tudela also gives the account of David Alroi, the messanic leader from central Kurdistan, who rebelled against the king of Persis and had plans to lead the Jews back to Jerusalem.” These travellers also report of well-established and wealthy Jewish communities in Mosul, which was the commercial and spiritual center of Kurdistan. Many Jews fearful of approaching crusaders, had fled from Syria and Palestine to Babylonia and Kurdistan. The Jews of Mosul enjoyed some degree of autonomy over managing their own community.[12] (at this time, Mosul was a Kurdish city).1500–1600’sAsenath Barzani, who later married Rabi Jacob MizrahiAbout 30 Kurdish paytanim are known from among the inhabitants of Barazan, Mosul, Amadiya, Ḥarīr, Naṣībīn, *Zākho , and other places. They wrote religious and secular poems in Hebrew and in Aramaic; 54 of them were published by Abraham Ben-Jacob in his book Kehillot Yehudei Kurdistan (1961). The most important of these poets were R. Samuel b. Nethanel ha-Levi *Barazani , who was also a rosh yeshivah in Mosul during the 17th century, and his daughter Asenath; R. Phineas b. R. Isaac Ḥariri and his son R. Ḥayyim; R. Simeon b. Jonah Mizraḥi; R. Gershon b. Raḥamim; R. Simeon b. Benjamin Abidani; R. Moses b. Isaac Bajulnaya; R. Samuel b. Simeon ʿAjamiya; R. Baruch b. Samuel Mizraḥi, the author of Shirei Zimrah; and others.Of particular importance was Asenath Barzani, who was a young Jewish-Kurdish woman who served as “rosh yeshivah in Mosul and as a leader of the Jewish community”.She is considered the “first female rabbi of Jewish history by some scholars, and her writings demonstrate her mastery of Hebrew, Torah, Talmud, Midrash, and Kabbalah.” Asenath died in 1670 and was buried in Amediye, in Kurdistan-Iraq.Farhud Genocide:During the " Farhud Genocide , “179 Jews of both sexes and all ages were killed, 242 children were left orphans, and 586 businesses were looted, 911 buildings housing more than 12,000 people were pillaged. The total property loss was estimated by the Jewish community's own investigating committee to be approximately 680,000 pounds.” (Remembering the Destruction of Iraqi Jewry)Due to rising anti-semitism, Jews in Iraq were targeted by pro-Nazi Arab officers, policemen and civilians. Although Fritz Grobba, The Nazi- envoy to the Middle East, was successful in recruiting Arab Iraqis, as well as Arabs in other nations, he had no such luck with the Kurds.“Israeli intelligence veterans say that cooperation took the form of military training for Kurds in northern Iraq, in return for their help in smuggling out Jews as well as in spying on Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq”.When the Israeli Government talks about “Kurds smuggling Jews out” they are speaking about the Farhud genocide. When Fritz Grobba arrived in Iraq to rally the Arabs to the Nazi cause by promising to help them evict the British who the Arabs saw as “colonialist occupiers”, he also tried to appeal to the Kurds and Sheikh Barzinji in the same way that he did the Iranians and Reza Shah -Exposing Iran's links to the Nazis - Jewish Telegraphic Agency . Grobba’s argument was that both groups, the Kurds and the Iranians, were part of the “Aryan Nation’s”, and that they should join in with their “German brethren” in attacking Jews. Although getting rid of the British in Kurdistan (which had conducted several RAF bombings against Kurds in the Kurdistan region of Iraq) was an attractive proposition, Sheikh Barzanji and the Kurds refused to join the Nazis. Instead the Kurds helped both Kurdish Jews and Iraqi Jews escape persecution by smuggling them thru the Kurdish mountains. As a result, the Kurdish-Iraq and Israeli relationship was born as Israel did not forget what the Kurds did for Jews in iraq.Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji (center)1940’s-1950’s: Kurdish and Iraqi Jews flee to Israel in Operation Ali Baba, later named Operation Ezra and NehemiahKurdish-Jewish Family immigrating to IsraelThe Kurdish Immigrants Who Built IsraelIraqi Jews on board a plane to IsraelThe expulsion that backfired: When Iraq kicked out its JewsRabbi Moshe Gabai, head of the Jews of Zakho, with President of Israel Yitzhak Ben-Zvi1960’s:Israel has maintained discreet military, intelligence and business ties with the Kurds since the 1960s, seeing in the minority ethnic group a buffer against shared Arab adversaries.Barzani’s Secret Trips to Israel:In 1961, when the Kurdish revolution was in dire straits, activist Ismet Sherif Vanly (above) suggested to Kurdish leader Mulla Mustafa Barzani that he contact Jerusalem for help. Vanly went to Israel where he met Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, as well as Shimon Peres. Following that visit, the Israeli government sent a permanent representative to Iraqi Kurdistan. The Israelis also attempted to arrange meetings for Vanly with U.S. officials, but the latter refused.“In 1963 & 1968, Mullah Mustafa Barzani made his first Secret trip to Israel as well as his second, respectivelyMustafa Barzani with Yaakov Hazan the Leader of Mapam party in Israel in 1968Mustafa Barzani with Yaakov Hazan the Leader of Mapam party in Israel in 1963Barzani & Mardinli Musa Dayan (Moşê Dayan)Visit of the Mossad to Kurdish leader Mullah Mustafa Barzani's head quarter in Kurdistan's mountains.— With Safti Barzani, Ahron Cohen, Nissim Avraham, Şêrko Sebrî and Diyar Kurde Israel.The Secret Friendship Behind Israel’s Support Of Kurdish IndependenceFirst Kurdish-Iraqi War 1961–1970Iran was in the “middle of a conflict with Iraq over the border between the two countries by the Shatt ul-Arab river. The Iranian Monarch Mohammad Pahlavi Shah believed that Iraq unlawfully reigned over what actually belonged to Iran. Furthermore, Iran feared the Soviet’s growing influence in Iraq, who later was to become an ally of the superpower in the Middle East. By supporting the Iraqi Kurds and thereby making them reliant on himself, the Shah would now be able to make demands of them: The Kurdish-Iranian Peshmerga, PDFKI, who had been attacking Iran, was hiding in Iraqi Kurdistan. In return for helping the Iraqi Kurds, the Shah demanded that Barzanî put an end to PDKI’s activities in Iraqi Kurdistan and hand over some of their activists to Iran. Barzanî accepted. (Israel once supported the Kurds – but then left them in the lurch )The Iranian Monarch, Shah Mohammed PahlaviIsrael “supported the Kurds partly as a counterweight to Soviet’s influence in Iraq but also to distract the Iraqi army.Israeli military advisers not only trained Kurdish guerrillas as a way to reduce the potential military threat Iraq presented to the Jewish state, but also the threat that Syria presented to Israel. This training operation was codenamed "Marvad" (Carpet). In the mid-1960s, Shimon Peres, the Israeli Deputy Minister of Defense and later Prime Minister, met secretly with Kumran Ali Bedir-Khan, a Kurdish leader who had spied for the Israelis in the 1940s and 1950s.According to a former senior Mossad official Eliezer Tsafrir, Israel had military advisers at the headquarters of Mulla Mustafa Barzani in 1963, where they trained and supplied the Kurdish units with fire arms, field and anti-aircraft artillery. Israel also spent tens of millions of dollars on the support of the Kurds, supplying them via Iran, which pursued its own goals in Iraq and had close ties with Israel up until 1979.The Parastin, the intelligence service of the Kurdish Democratic Party, was also established with Mossad’s support in the late 1960s. The operations conducted by the Israeli intelligence agency in Northern Iraq were of particular significance for Israel because the Iraqi Kurds were pounded not only by the Iraqi troops but also by the regular army of Syria, another Arab state ruled by the Baath party. After the commencement of active hostilities in Northern Iraq against the Kurds in 1963, Syria, concerned about the spread of the Kurdish sepa- ratism in its territory, offered necessary support to Baghdad to combat the Kurdish forces. The Syrian troops strengthened by air force and heavy artillery ac- tively participated in the hostilities against the Kurds at Mosul, Zakho and Dohuk. Moreover, as the Baathist regimes in Syria and Iraq attempted to unite the two states into one, a military alliance was signed in October 1963 in Damascus under which the integrated Syrian-Iraqi armed forces were supposed to be created. However, when these attempts failed in a short while and due to the fierce Kurdish resistance in the North, the Syrian troops were withdrawn from the Kurdish-populated provinces. Thus, owing to the Israeli support of the Iraqi Kurds, in turn, sizable Syrian forces were also diverted from the borders of Israel as well.Aryeh (Lova) Eliav, an Israeli Cabinet member, personally rode a mule over the mountains in 1966 to deliver a field hospital to the Kurds. The important defection of an Iraqi air force MIG pilot and his plane to Israel in August 1966, was effected with Kurdish help, while Israeli officers apparently assistedHospital established by Jewish-Israeli doctors in KurdistanMossad agents in Kurdistan-Iraq with “Shamo” the bear, which was given to them as a giftThe US and “Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wanted to do their ally, the Shah of Iran, a favor by supporting Iraq’s opponents – i.e. the Kurds. Furthermore, the US was also worried of the Soviet’s role in Iraq. In addition, they were supposedly promised oil of Barzanî as well; the Kurdish areas of Iraq were rich on oil. And last but not least, Kissinger wanted to support their close ally, Israel. If the Kurds attacked Iraq, the latter would have fewer resources to attack Israel with, during the Yom Kippur War.”Picture of the Shah of Iran with Kissinger1967The “British-born David Kimche, later deputy head of the Mossad, travelled on a non-Israeli passport to Kurdistan to appraise the situation. He was followed by Dov Tamari, a commando unit leader, who explored the idea of a permanent IDF training unit in the Kurdish mountains. This led to periodic six month stints for IDF personnel who trained peshmerga officers in the Marvad programme.Following the Six Day war, Israeli assistance for the Kurds increased considerably, as Israel realized that the ongoing Kurdish-Iraqi battles tied up Iraqi forces so they were not able to battle Israel instead. Slowly, captured Soviet arms made their way to Kurdistan.” (https://www.thejc.com/comment/analysis/a-movement-backed-by-israel-for-half-a-century-1.445216)Yaakov Nimrodi, the influential Israeli military attache in Tehran, served as the main channel. At times, Israeli advisers wore Iranian uniforms. In September 1967, Barzani again visited Israel and presented Moshe Dayan, the Israeli Defense Minister, with a curved Kurdish dagger. Barzani also found Israeli mortars superior to those he had been using and asked for more.1968–1970 Iraqi CoupBy 1968, Iraq went thru a coup that made Saddam Hussein Vice-President of Iraq. He began negotiations with the Kurds, and on May 11, 1968, promised the Kurds autonomy. According to the agreement made; “Kurdish and Arabic were to become the two official languages of Kurdistan; Kurdish participation in the government would become complete; officials in Kurdistan needed to be Kurds themselves or Kurdish speaking; and the Vice President had to be a Kurd.” ( Israel once supported the Kurds – but then left them in the lurch ) Unfortunately, however, Saddam reigned on the May 11, 1970 agreement, and he made several attempts at assassinating Mullah Mustafa Barzanî and his son and successor, Idris Barzani who ultimately died of a heart attack later on (1944–1987).Saddam Hussein, first became Vice-President of Iraq, then President, then permanent Dictator of IraqAfter being betrayed by Saddam, the Kurds resumed their fight, but this time the Kurds were backed by Iran, Israel and the United States.1973 Yom-Kippur WarDuring the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, in which Syria and Egypt were attacking Israel, only one Iraqi unit was able to participate in the Arab-Israeli war. The rest of the Iraqi units were busy fighting Barzanî in Iraq. The Kurds attacked Iraqi soldiers on Israeli demand.” Hence, Israel sent units to train and arm Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. (The precarious Kurdish-Israeli relationship, post-Kirkuk - Atlantic Council)1975 Algiers Accord:By 1975, Saddam came to the realization that “parts of the Iraqi territory by the Shatt ul-Arab border demarcation had to be given to Iran in order to prevent further Iranian support of the Iraqi Kurds”;“If we don’t give away the southern part of the country to Iran, we will lose the northern (Kurdish) part,” Saddam allegedly stated.On March, 1975 , Algerian President Houari Boumédiènne oversaw negotiations between Iran and Iraq in an agreement that would be called “The Algiers Accord”.In this Accord, Iraq and Iran outlined the borders between the two countries. In addition, Iran would stop supplying the Kurds of Iraq with weapons in return for “the transfer of Iraqi territory to Iran—especially half the width of the Shatt al-Arab, the river through which ships could sail to a number of major Iranian ports.”Israel's aid to the Kurds was being transferred through Iran, so Iran's decision also prevented the continuation of Israeli aid to the Kurds (the only other possible route being Turkey which was also hostile to the idea of a Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq as a dangerous precedent for the Kurds in eastern Turkey, as well as being hostile to any type of Kurdish nationalism).“Iran also requested that the CIA and Mossad end the military support of the Kurds. Most of the people thought that after the end of international support, the Iraqi government would negotiate with the Kurds, but the Vice-Chairman at the time, Saddam Hussein, launched an aggressive campaign against the Kurds to “end them forever”. Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi interfered and succeeded in establishing a cease fire, but on 1 April, the Iraqi government relaunched the campaign intent on killing not only Kurdish fighters but Kurdish civilians as well, (a precursor to the Anfal Genocide). The Iraqi Army slaughtered thousands of Kurds with 100,000 Kurdish refugees fleeing to Iran with their leader, Mullah Mustafa Barzani. [16]1979 Rise of the Islamic Regime in IranAfter the establishment and formation of Israel as a country, Iran was one of the first Muslim-majority countries to acknowledge and recognize Israel’s sovereignty. After the 1953 Coup d’etat which installed Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, and subsequently his son, Shah Mohammed Pahlavi, relations between the two countries significantly improved. [1] Israel viewed Iran as a natural ally as a non-Arab power in the Middle East, and as a result,Israel had a permanent delegation in Tehran which thereafter led to permanent Ambassadors. After the Six-Day War, Iran supplied Israel with a significant portion of its oil needs and Iranian oil was shipped to European markets via the joint Israeli-Iranian Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline.[20] Brisk trade between the countries continued until 1979, along with many Iranian-Israeli military links and projects which were kept secret.Ayatollah KhomeiniAfter the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran led by the Ayatollah Khomeini, however, the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran severed all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel. The new Islamic regime also closed down the Israeli Embassy in Tehran, handing it over to the “Palestinian Liberation Front (PLO)”. The new government also refused to recognize the legitimacy of Israel as a state, and was sharply anti-Zionist. This stance only worsened with time, as a cold peace turned to outright hostility in the early 1990’s, leading Yitzhak Rabin’s government to adopt a more aggressive posture on Iran.[3]As a result, however, the Israeli Government began to use Iraqi Kurdistan not only as a base from which to obtain intelligence on Iraq, but also served as a base for Israeli intelligence collection on the Islamic regime.Anfal Genocide 1980–1988Al–Anfal, which is Arabic for “the spoils of war”, is the name of the eighth sura, or chapter, of the Quran. It tells a tale in which followers of Mohammed pillage the lands of nonbelievers. Some say the government chose the term for its campaign against the Kurds of northern Iraq because it suggested a religious justification for its actions.What was certain was that Saddam Hussein wanted to murder the Kurds, and began a mammoth campaign of civic annihilation, displacement and mass killing. The Anfal was unleashed against the Kurds from early 1980 through September 1988, and was tied to Saddam’s goals in the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war. Beginning with bombings of PUK and KDP targets, Saddam quickly moved to civilian targets. By 1987, Saddam had enlisted the help of his cousin, Ali Hassan Al-Majid (who was well known for his brutality) to take charge of the “Kurdish situation”. Also known by his nickname of “Chemical Ali due to his use of chemical warfare against the Kurds, Al-Majid began dropping poison gas not only on peshmerga targets but civilian villages.In early 1988, the Anfal began in earnest. A “directive from Baghdad ordered commanders to bomb rural areas of the north day or night “in order to kill the largest number of persons present.” The same directive declared that “all persons captured in those villages shall be detained and interrogated by the security services, and those between the ages of 15 and 70 shall be executed after any useful information has been obtained from them”. (A journey into the killing fields . PBS )182,000 Kurds were killed in the Anfal Campaign, with the village of Halabja alone sustaining 5,000 civilians dead. Hundreds of Kurdish villages were razed to the ground, with thousands of more Kurds forcibly relocated to different areas, including Iran. Mass graves uncovered thousands of people who had been shot and buried, and evidence uncovered in 2003 found that many Kurdish girls had been sold into slavery to Arab states by Saddam’s government. Thousands more Kurdish refugees fled the region and were given asylum in Europe, Australia or North America, forever being displaced from their homes.Civilian Kurds who were killed during the Al-Anfal campaign by chemical gasIraqi Kurds commemorate Halabja massacreDuring this time, Nahum Admoni, Mossad chief in the 1980s, described initiating assistance to the Kurds as “definitely humanitarian, an emotional aid to an oppressed minority”.1991 First Gulf WarAfter Kurdish forces assisted US- led Coalition forces in the First and Second Gulf Wars, Saddam responded with another brutal campaign against the Kurds in retaliation.All over the world, the Jewish organizations started a vigorous lobbying campaigns to aid the Iraqi Kurds and to exert pressure on Iraq to stop the persecutions (Barron, A. US and Israeli Jews Express Support for Kurdish Refugees // Washington Report of Middle East Affairs, May-June 1991, p.64.) Israel demonstrated its sympathy with the Kurds by means of large-scale supplies of medication and first-aid items through the Turkish-Iraqi border. This campaign was organized by the Israeli community of the Iraqi Jews. The Iraqi Jews even organized a large-scale demonstration at the residence of the Israeli Prime Minister Shamir during the meeting of the latter with the US State Secretary James Baker calling on the US government to defend the Kurds from reprisals ( Shahak, I. Open Secrets: Israeli Nuclear and Foreign Policies // (Experience Progress historia/shahak/opensec/07.htm)2003 Liberation of Iraq“Colonel Amir Goren, who served in the IDF for over 30 years and is now 53, describes himself as an “international anti-terrorism expert,” providing “tailored solutions” to “combat, physical and technological needs” for “public and private organizations” in several geographies. He led a group of Israelis who trained Iraqi Kurdish security forces and Peshmerga from 2004-2006, working as a subcontractor for an American company that sought to build the KRG’s security capacity. His tasks included the training of special forces and training and developing security for Erbil international airport.Goren’s team was 90 percent Israeli: all IDF veterans with an average age of 30-40. There were “several tens” of Israelis working in Kurdistan under Goren, handpicked by him. He said that his men were the only Israelis he was aware of operating in Iraq at the time. Some had served under him in the IDF, and others were selected based on their skills, CVs, and a test Goren provided gauging their intelligence, academic abilities, loyalty and trustworthiness.Goren used a fake identity in Kurdistan, claiming to be born of a Turkish Muslim father and Bulgarian Christian mother, and—like the rest of the Israelis in his team—never revealed himself as a Jew or Israeli. (The remaining 10 percent of his group were mainly from Britain and South Africa: They also used fake names, but acknowledged their background.) He did not bring a passport with him and held none during his stay, instead using a “special document.” In response to a question about whether clearance was specifically granted for this by KRG officials, he replied: “The people who should know that, knew that.” He chose not to reveal how he entered Kurdistan, or whether he left and returned during his time there.When asked what impressed him most about the Kurdish security forces, Goren replied: “Their personal motivation. They believed in their country, they were dedicated to their goal. I was impressed by their striving for independence and desire to connect to the rest of the world.”2012In January 2012 the French newspaper Le Figaro claimed that Israeli intelligence agents were recruiting and training Iranian dissidents in clandestine bases located in Iraq’s Kurdish region. A year later The Washington Post disclosed that Turkey had revealed to Iranian intelligence a network of Israeli spies working in Iran, including ten people believed to be Kurds who reportedly met with Mossad members in Turkey. This precarious relationship between Israel and Turkey—along with the risks and costs to both sides—persists today.“2015 ISISEliezer Gheizi Safrir, Mossad’s station chief in Kurdistan in the 1970’s:“Israeli politicians and cabinet members have often compared Iraqi Kurdistan as a mirror image of a pre-1948 Israel—championing self-determination and paralleling both states’ non-Arab identity—and saw Kurdistan’s friendship in line with Israel’s “alliance of the periphery” foreign policy agenda. Especially after a successful campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Iraqi Kurdistan appeared the ideal destination for Israel to stave off Iran’s growing ‘Shia crescent’ and fragment centralized Arab efforts”.(The precarious Kurdish-Israeli relationship, post-Kirkuk - Atlantic Council)“On the level of economic strategy, Israel granted critical support to the KRG by buying Kurdish oil in 2015, when no other country was willing to do so because of Baghdad’s threat to sue. KRG Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami even admitted to the arrangement, saying that to avoid detection Kurdish oil was often funneled through Israel. Iraq’s Oil Minister, Husayn Shahristani, repeatedly inquired as to the nature of the KRG’s dealings with Israel and the Mossad, to which KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said he wanted to reply: “Are you the Minister of Oil or of Intelligence?”*I would like to note that while Germany did the lion’s share of taking in Yezidi Kurdish refugees as well as trauma victims (women and children who had been sold as sex slaves or “cubs of the caliphate”), Israel also initiated a program to help, in Israel as well as Iraq:““We began working in Iraq a month after the Islamic State invaded, in September 2014,” said Yotam Polizer, co-chief executive officer of IsrAID. “And we immediately understood that the thing we could help most with was in the field of trauma treatment and psychological help, for which there was enormous need.”Over the past few years, the organization has sent some 20 Israeli experts with dual citizenship to Iraq to help treat these psychological wounds.Two years ago, the organization was contacted by three members of Bar-Ilan’s faculty – Dr. Yaakov Hoffman, a clinical psychologist and researcher, Prof. Amit Shrira, a psychologist and Prof. Ari Zivotofsky, a brain researcher. All were studying trauma among Yazidi women, and Zivotofsky had even visited Iraq.They proposed offering training in treating complex PTSD to people who deal with the traumatized population. Their plan was to adapt a therapy method known as STAIR, which was developed by Prof. Marylene Cloitre of California.Thus was born a joint venture that, with Mirza’s help, brought 15 young women from Iraq for training in Israel. The semi-secret operation required complex preparations, including giving the Foreign Ministry detailed information about each of the women months in advance.“We worked for a year and a half to build the infrastructure for this and learn about Yazidi culture,” Hoffman said. “We tried to build an optimal model for effective training in these situations, but in the end, the people undergoing the training aren’t psychologists and mental health experts. So we can’t know what contribution the training will really make.”Dr. Mordechai Kedar, of Bar-Ilan University in Israel, “What happened to the Kurds will happen to Israel. The Kurds fought ISIS, sacrificed their soldiers and people, and were thrown to the wolves once they were not needed. That is exactly what the world’s nations will do to Israel once it extricates them from the Iranian problem. Why not? The immediate interests of each and every country and not the moral rights of the Kurds and the Israelis are what makes the world go round.”The Kurds, particularly the Kurds in Iraq, have actually had a long relationship with Israel. However, the Kurds have always been fearful of being called “Zionists” by the Arab and/or Islamic nations due to the fact that it could be used to justify (at least in the Muslim nation’s eyes) more genocides/massacres against the Kurds in order to “get even” with Israel. Dictators like Saddam or even Assad who espoused pan-arabism and forced arabization would have used the Israeli-Kurdish relationship as fodder for increased operations against the Kurds. Fearful of this, the relationship was kept covert until 2003, when the shadow of Saddam no longer hung over Kurds. Of course, today those who want to vilify Kurds still make ludicrous claims that “Israel only helps the Kurds because they want to make a second Israel in the Middle East”.However, the relationship is mutually beneficial for both countries.The “Kurdish factor has always played a special role in the geo-strategy of Israel after the establishment of the Jewish State. The Kurdish-Israeli relations are a major element of Israel’s policy in the Near and Middle East, and effective leverage to exert pressure on Iraq (and to a less extent, Syria) in order to detract the attention of the Baghdad government and to prevent its active intervention into the Arab- Israeli conflict. At the same time, it should be noted that the historical and cultural nearness of the Jews and Kurds determined by a strong and numerous Jewish community in Iraq believed to be the oldest in the world contributed to the close con- tacts between Israel and the Kurds. Despite the exodus of nearly the whole community, nity from Iraq to Israel, the Iraqi Jews have retained their uniqueness, traditions and culture, and to a great extent determined the policy of Israel towards the Kurds, as well as Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The Kurdish community of Israel also made its contribution to this matter, although to a limited extent.” (Minasian, S. http://www.noravank.am/upload/pdf/256_en.pdf )JEWISH/ISRAELI LEADERS WHO HAVE SPOKEN OUT IN SUPPORT OF THE KURDS, AS WELL AS FOR SUPPORT OF THE 2017 REFERENDUMGolda Meir: Henry Kissinger recalled in his memoir that when he served as secretary of state between 1973 and 1977, Israel appealed “for additional support for the Kurds” and that Golda Meir actively campaigned for Barzani, trying to persuade Kissinger to support Barzani’s party in taking over Iraqi Kurdistan.Eliezer Tsafrir, (former Mossad station chief in Kurdish northern Iraq who is now retired from Israeli government service) said the secrecy around the ties had been maintained at the request of the Kurds:"We'd love it to be out in the open, to have an embassy there, to have normal relations. But we keep it clandestine because that’s what they want,” he told Reuters.Amos Gilad: "Our silence - in public, at least – is best. Any unnecessary utterance on our part can only harm them (Kurds),” senior Israeli defence official Amos Gilad said on Tuesday.Shimon Peres: "The Kurds have, de facto, created their own state, which is democratic. One of the signs of a democracy is the granting of equality to women," Peres said. (Israel tells U.S. Kurdish independence is 'foregone conclusion' )Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Paris:"Iraq is breaking up before our eyes and it would appear that the creation of an independent Kurdish state is a foregone conclusion," Lieberman's spokesman quoted him as telling Kerry.Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin, (Executive Director for INSS and former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Military Intelligence), highlighted that “Kurds were the only force fighting IS as their highest priority.”Ehud Olmert (former Prime Minister of Israel) reiterated Israel’s support for the people of Kurdistan and said his country would continue to be a friend of the Kurds.“Well, needless to say, Israel has been friendly and a sympathizer of the Kurdish situation for many, many years,” Olmert told Kurdistan 24 during a Jerusalem Post Conference in New York over the weekend.“I had the privilege of meeting with top Kurdish leaders when I was Prime Minister,” he said, “and I hope that these relations will continue and the support of Israel will continue for the Kurdish needs and aspirations.”Israel Katz (Netanyahu’s intelligemce Minister: The issue at present is to prevent an attack on the Kurds, extermination of the Kurds and any harm to them, their autonomy and region, something that Turkey and Iran and internal [Shia] and other powers in Iraq and part of the Iraqi government want,” Israel Katz, told Tel Aviv radio station 102 FM on Friday.Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked: on Kurdish sovereigntyIsraeli minister calls for Kurdish statehoodBenjamin Netanyahu: "(Israel) supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to achieve their own state.””“With respect to the Kurds, they are a warrior nation that is politically moderate, has proven they can be politically committed, and is worthy of statehood.”“It is upon us to support the international efforts to strengthen Jordan, and support the Kurds’ aspiration for independence,” Netanyahu said. The Kurds, he said, are a “fighting people that have proven political commitment and political moderation, and they’re also worthy of their own political independence.”Israeli General Yair Golan, Former IDF Deputy Chief: “I think the Kurds are, by nature, a moderate element with a positive influence on the surrounding people. And from my personal perspective, the Kurdistan Workers Party is not a terrorist organization,” he said during the event at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.*one person tried to claim that Bibi “knocked down” Yair Golan’s comments right away and the reason isn’t because he doesn’t agree, but because Israel doesn’t want to risk antagonizing Turkey. The same reason why Israel — along with other countries, including the United States — has refrained from formally recognizing the Armenian genocide over fears of angering Turkey, which they need to keep in NATO.Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov said that his country does not consider the Kurds in Syria or the PKK terrorists: ““We understand Turkey’s concerns with regard to global terrorism. Especially after the terrorist attack in Ankara the other day.” Karlov told Russian news agency Ria Novosti on Saturday. “But neither the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) nor the Democratic Union Party (PYD) are considered terrorist organizations by either Russia or the United Nations Security Council,” (https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/19102015)Guess what happened to Andrey Karlov? He was shot dead in Turkey during a press conference. Just as conveniently, the assassin was shot dead by other Turkish police. Just like the murder of Tahir Elçi, which the Turkish government claimed was carried out by “Pkk Terrorists”. Terrorists shot him alright, in the form of three Turkish police officers who orchestrated the attack in a way so that they would not be seen as responsible in the footage. Evidence of that can be found here; Forensic Architecture , New Report: 'Rights Lawyer Tahir Elci Shot by Turkish Police' In Turkey, everything and anything that happens is because of “Pkk”. They literally get scapegoated for anything and everything. Now Erdogan claims its Gulen and PKK together, which is even more ludicrous, considering they oppose each other.But Bibi would have to avoid antagonizing Turkey as the relationship with the two countries was very strained after the Flotilla incident.(Haim Malka)Turkish-Israeli relations have been on life support since the December 2008 Gaza War. Since then, there have been few high-level political discussions, and the bilateral agenda, outside of military sales, has been limited. Turkey no longer views Israel as a strategic asset, and 2010 was the first year Turkey did not request Israeli assistance in Congress on the Armenian genocide issue. Even if diplomatic ties are mended down the road, the fact remains that Turkey’s government appears to have embraced Israel’s arch foes, Iran and Hamas. Rather than a potential mediator, Turkey has effectively become a party to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Given such diverging interests, it is likely that the Gaza flotilla incident, which the Turkish government indirectly supported, will intensify the long and painful break in Turkish-Israeli relations.Bibi’s statement was : ““Israel condemns all terrorism in Turkey and expects that Turkey will condemn all terrorist attacks in Israel,” Netanyahu said after a deadly bombing in Istanbul in December. “The fight against terrorism must be mutual. It must be mutual in condemnation and in countermeasures, and this is what the state of Israel expects from all countries it is in contact with, including Turkey.” (Rebuffing former top general, Netanyahu says Kurdish PKK a terror group)“Israel opposes the PKK and considers it a terrorist organization, in contrast to Turkey, which supports the terrorist group Hamas,” he said while on a state visit to Argentina. “While Israel is opposed to any kind of terrorism, it supports the legitimate means of the Kurdish people to obtain their own state.”(Rebuffing former top general, Netanyahu says Kurdish PKK a terror group)This basically means that Netanyahu hopes by denouncing Pkk that Turkey will denounce Hamas and other groups carrying out attacks in israel which is a joke, considering there are Hamas bases in Turkey run by the Turkish government.However, after Erdogan denounced Israel for “attacks against Palestinians” and claimed “Israel Using Same Methods as Nazis on Palestinians in Gaza, Erdogan Says (Israel using same methods as Nazis on Palestinians in Gaza, Erdogan says ) Bibi’s response was : “I am not used to receiving lectures about morality from a leader who bombs Kurdish villagers in his native Turkey, who jails journalists, who helps Iran get around international sanctions, and who helps terrorists, including in Gaza, kill innocent people,” said Netanyahu.Gideon Sa’ar has also urged Israel to support Kurdish independence, saying that; “they have proven themselves over decades to be a reliable strategic partner for us.” And again, on the day of the referendum in late September, “I hope that if there is a majority for independence, Israel will be the first country to recognize Iraqi Kurdistan.”Notable Kurdish-IsraelisMoshe BarzaniMoshe BarazaniBarazani joined Lehi at an early age, following in the footsteps of his brother. Initially, he was a member of Lehi's youth division and posted propaganda leaflets, but later joined the fighting force. He participated in numerous sabotage operations, laying mines to destroy British vehicles and taking part in railway sabotage.While awaiting execution in the Central Prison in Jerusalem's Russian Compound, he met Irgun fighter Meir Feinstein, who had also been sentenced to death. On April 21, 1947, shortly before their scheduled executions, they committed suicide with an improvised grenade which had been smuggled inside a hollowed-out orange. The two embraced each other with the live grenade lodged between them. The story of Feinstein and Barazani became a celebrated tale in Israel.Syrian (Rojava) Kurds:I have written much less about the Syrian Kurds or Rojava Kurds, simply because of the fact that the Rojava has only recently established a federalist state and begun working with the West.Even more unfortunately, they are being heavily threatened not only by Assad, but by Turkey as well. Turkey’s goal is to eliminate the YPG/YPJ, and their tactics have been endless. At this point in time, I don’t want to get into details about American/French/Israeli/German/Canadian or any country's Support for the Rojava Kurds. This type of information at the current time is highly sensitive. But I will say this: it is in the benefit of all civilized nations that Rojava succeeds.

H-1B Start: General Legal InformationSummaryThe H-1B is a temporary United States work visa, valid for an initial period of up to three-years, and may be extended to a maximum of six, with limited exceptions. To qualify, a foreign national must be coming temporarily to the United States to perform services in a specialty occupation for a U.S. employer. A specialty occupation is generally defined as one that requires the attainment of at least a bachelor’s degree (or its equivalent, possibly based on education and/or experience) as a minimum requirement for entry into the occupation.H-1B sponsorship is tied specifically to any sponsoring employer. The client employer is called the petitioner or employer (ER), petitioning the US government; and the foreign national employee is the beneficiary of the visa petition, also known as employee (EE).Main Factors Affecting ApprovalObtaining a new H-1B is somewhat predictable based on several factors, but never assured with the federal government and the current state of affairs at the USCIS. A filing that is not approved will not receive a refund of fees from the USCIS nor the law firm. We try to make a fair assessment of our odds of approval in advance.The main factors affecting approval are:Ø The position offered. Does it require someone with at least a bachelor’s degree? For example, even if someone has a PhD, that person would not qualify for an H-1B visa based on work as a waiter.Ø The person. Does the H-1B beneficiary have a degree (or equivalent) which closely matches the company’s requirements and specific position offered? This has been an area of contention between the USCIS and practitioners of immigration law. USCIS has been requiring occupation-specific majors, while the law clearly supports granting of visas to applicants with degrees in multiple disciplines, as long as it reasonably qualifies the applicant to perform the work. For example, occupation specific degrees are required in law or medicine, but for marketing or IT positions, there are usually a number of academic disciplines which are acceptable.Ø The company. Is the company financially viable and of a sufficient size and complexity to justify hiring the H-1B candidate? Factors considered by the USCIS include the company’s stage of development, organizational complexity, ability to pay the required wage, current number of employees, gross income, and funding. Evidence provided to document company operations varies on a case-by-case basis. A comprehensive list is available in our H-1B Start Employer Questionnaire.H-1B Employer ObligationsØ Protect wages in the region. Employers must pay every H-1B worker wages that are 100% of the wages paid to US workers in similar positions in the same geographical region. This wage is referred to as the prevailing wage.Ø Protect wages in the workplace. Employers must pay every H-1B worker the actual wages paid to other employees in the same position, with normal variability for experience, merit, skills, etc. This wage is referred to as the actual wage.Ø Post the proposed salary. Employers must post the prospective salary or the salary range for an H-1B position for 10 business days at the worksite in two conspicuous locations. Advertising required, only if the company is H-1B dependent - see below.Ø Protect working conditions.Employers cannot use H-1B workers to break a strike and they must notify their U.S. workforce of the hiring of H-1B professionals.Ø Provide benefits equally. Employers must provide benefits to H-1B employees in the same manner as provided to similar U.S. workers.Ø File a Labor Condition Application (LCA). Employers must file a Labor Condition Application attesting to the wages and the no-strike use of H-1B employees with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).Ø Pay the employee during benching. Employers who bench employees during non-productive status must continue to pay full salary and benefits as attested on the Labor Condition Application.Ø Be subject to penalties for failures. Failure to comply with DOL regulations could result in civil penalties, a requirement to pay back wages, and even debarment from participating in key immigration programs. Audits are performed by US immigration authorities randomly.Ø No discrimination in hiring. The employer may decline employing any worker who is not legally eligible to work. Written offers should be contingent upon proof of eligibility to work for any employer in the U.S. If a candidate requests sponsorship for H-1B status, the company can decide to sponsor or not.Ø Return transportation. If an employer terminates an H1-B employee before the end of that employee’s period of authorized stay, the employer is liable for the “reasonable costs” of return transportation for the employee to his or her last country of residence. Immigration statutes and regulations suggest that the employer’s liability is limited to the reasonable cost of physically returning the H-1B employee, and does not extend to the cost of relocating family members or property.Ø Withdrawal of H-1B after termination. Regulations require an H-1B employer to notify USCIS “immediately” of “any material changes in the terms and conditions of employment” affecting an H-1B employee. USCIS policy is that a termination is such a “material change.” Employers may satisfy this notification obligation by sending a letter explaining the change or termination to USCIS office that approved the petition.H-1B Employee ObligationsØ Inform Lawyer of Travel. An employee who will be traveling in H-1B status should inform a lawyer in advance to make sure that all paperwork is in order and to ensure that H-1B status is still valid. He/she may need a trip to a US Embassy or Consulate abroad before returning to secure a visa stamp.Ø Quitting a job is allowed. An employee may quit his/her employment in H-1B status at any time. He/she may be subject to contractual terms made specifically with the employer, outside the scope of the H-1B visa.Ø Lay-offs and leaving the U.S. An employee who is laid off or terminated is no longer considered to be maintaining H-1B status, despite having an I-94 document which might still be valid, on its face. The employee must leave the U.S. as quickly as possible, as is no official “grace period” or provision for continuing H-1B status while looking for another job.The Players in the H-1B Process and Their RolesA dual representation situation is created in the preparation of an H-1B petition, where our firm has the interests of both the US company petitioner and foreign national employee in mind, in representing both parties together, to obtain the desired visa from the US government.Ø Employer and employee participation. Both the US company petitioner (employer) and foreign national (employee) supply essential information to complete the needed paperwork, submitted to US immigration authorities. Paperwork includes numbered immigration forms, letters, and supporting documentation. Employer signs the immigration forms and a critical support letter, which confirms the temporary offer of employment, and summarizes eligibility for the H-1B. Employer also follows instructions from our firm to ensure compliance with applicable law surrounding hiring H-1B workers, including posting and maintenance of public access files (PAFs). Employer must update the Public Access File with information about benefits, salary changes. Information about recruitment is necessary only if the employer is dependent – see below.Ø Attorney analysis and preparation. The attorney obtains the initial paperwork on a particular employee and determines if H-1B status will be viable based on information presented. The attorney informs the client about H-1B obligations and responsibilities. The attorney prepares the forms and files them with USCIS.Ø Department of Labor. Reviews the Labor Condition Application (LCA) and certifies that the prevailing wage is being paid based on the information provided. DOL also may perform random audits to see if employer requirements in addition to the LCA disclosures are being upheld.Ø US Citizenship & Immigration Services. USCIS receives the filing and determines that the job requirements, the employee's credentials and the employer's viability are all sufficient for approval.Ø Department of State/visits to US Embassy or Consulate abroad. If the employee is abroad after receiving approval of the petition, or is granted consular approval (as opposed to a change or extension of status) the employee must apply for an H-1B visa stamp at a US Embassy or Consulate abroad.Additional H-1B ConsiderationsØ Spouses/Children (Dependents of H-1Bs). Spouses and children may accompany the H-1B principal using H-4 status. Spouses of H visa holders may NOT be gainfully employed but are allowed to attend school and university classes.Ø Duration/Six Year Limit with Limited Exceptions.H-1B status is good for an initial term of up to three-years, and may be extended for a maximum of six years. After six years, the individual must leave the US for one year, unless he/she qualifies for an extension BEYOND six years based on AC-21.Ø Extensions of H-1B status beyond six years. H-1B status may be extended beyond the 6-year limitation, in one-year increments, if a labor certification application (commonly referred to as PERMs or Labors) has been filed at least 365 days prior to the expiration the 6-year limitation. An H-1B may also be extended beyond the 6-year period, in three-year increments, for any person who is the beneficiary of an approved first, second, or third employment-based I-140 petition, but due to per country limitations is unable to file for or obtain his or her immigrant visa. Finally, time spent physically outside of the United States beginning with the first date of H-1B status may be re-captured.Ø Gaps in status/employment. Note to the employee who is going to leave a US petitioning employer: gaps in status between employers are not allowed and will subject the employee to immigration penalties. Immigration penalties include having to exit and re-enter the US to activate H status with the new employer; or problems when the employee tries to adjust status to permanent residence in the US. Try to avoid gaps between employers.Ø Timing of H-1B extensions. An extension with the same employer should generally be started approximately 6 months before expiration so that the individual is not stuck in the US waiting for approval prior to travel (after expiration of the old I-94 card). However, an extension may be filed as late as the day before expiration. If the case needs to be quickly processed, the petition may be expedited with Premium Processing Service for an additional government filing fee, currently set at $1225. Common reasons are filing an extension too close to expiration.Ø H-1B portability (or transfer). A person who was previously granted a visa or otherwise held H-1B status may commence new employment upon the filing of a new petition by the prospective new employer if: (1) s/he was lawfully admitted; (2) the new petition is not frivolous; (3) the new petition was filed before the date of expiration of the period of stay authorized by the AG of the H-1B beneficiary (current I-94); and (4) subsequent to such lawful admission the H-1B beneficiary has not been employed without authorization before the filing of such petition.Additional H-1B Considerations for H-1B Dependent EmployersØ Ratios to calculate dependency. Employers hiring 7 H-1B employees or fewer cannot be deemed H-1B dependent.- 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees: 8 or more H-1B employees means dependent- 26 - 50 full-time employees: 13 or more H-1B employees means dependent- 50 or more full-time employees: 15% or more are H-1B employees means dependentØ Impact of dependency. Employers who are dependent must not displace U.S. workers at the worksite and must make good faith recruitment efforts.Ø Recruitment required. For dependent employers, good faith recruitment must be done using industry wide standards. Recruitment must take place internally and externally and the employer must offer its open positions to any U.S. workers who apply for the job with equal or better qualifications.Ø Save recruitment efforts. Employers defined as H-1B Dependent must create and maintain documentation of their recruitment efforts. These include copies of recruitment materials or a summary memorandum of effort. Candidate selection process materials must be included or noted in a memorandum in the employer's public access LCA file.Ø Exemption for additional requirements. Even if an employer is H-1B Dependent, he/she may not need to make new attestations or advertise for any new H-1B workers who are exempt by virtue of (a) holding a Master's degree for the field of employment or (b) being paid $60,000 or more per year.