 Israel also provided, through Turkish Kurdistan, first aid items to Iraqi Kurdistan, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, during a meeting with US Secretary of State James Baker called on the American government to defend the Kurds.Israeli media in 2004 reported about the meetings of Israeli officials with Kurdish political leaders when Massoud Barzani, Jalal Talabani and the former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon publicly confirmed the good relations with the Iraqi Kurdistan region.The president of the Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, answered a question while visiting Kuwait in May 2006 about the Kurdish–Israeli relationship