09:50     14 April 2021    

Israel was one of the first countries to recognize the independence of Azerbaijan. Since then, relations between the two countries have been developing only along an ascending line.

Israel was one of the first countries to recognize the independence of Azerbaijan. Since then, relations between the two countries have been developing only along an ascending line. The significance of Azerbaijan for Israel is very great. First, Azerbaijan supplies oil and oil products to Israel. Secondly, strong contacts have been established between the countries in the field of military-technical cooperation, which are mutually beneficial. For Israel, relations with Azerbaijan are also very important because it is a muslim country. Israel has never viewed the conflict with the Arab world as religious, and muslims in our country enjoy complete religious freedom. We have a territorial conflict with a part of the arabs who lived in Israel. But it is by no means religious in nature. Palestinians are trying to portray this conflict as a religious one in order to gain outside support. Moreover, in Israel this conflict is not seen as a conflict between Islam and Judaism. The fact of the centuries-old free residence of a large Jewish community in Azerbaijan is the best example of demonstrating contacts between countries and peoples, and the example of the coexistence of the Jewish and Azerbaijani people, as well as contacts of the muslim and jewish clergy in Azerbaijan, is extremely important for Israel. The fact that there has never been and never is anti-semitism in Azerbaijan, that the Jewish community enjoys the full support of the state, is incredibly important for Israel. Israel traditionally pays attention to the situation of Jews in other countries. Jews from Azerbaijan who live in Israel - both mountain and Ashkenazi - unequivocally support their country of origin. I have never met a single Jew in Israel, a native of Azerbaijan, who spoke badly about his homeland. All jews - immigrants from Azerbaijan in Israel retain the warmest feelings towards Azerbaijan, worry about what is happening in the country and always support Baku's policy. In this sense, Baku in Israel has a powerful support group represented by Jews from Azerbaijan. There are forces that are trying in every possible way to upset this cooperation - both at the international level and within Israel. First of all, this is Iran. The second force is the Armenian diaspora. There is an Armenian community in Israel and the Patriarchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, one of the centers of Armenian Christianity. They have their own block in the old city of Jerusalem. By the way, nobody from outsiders is allowed there. This is a rather paradoxical situation. As a citizen of Israel, I cannot enter the territory of the region of the capital of our state, Jerusalem. This quarter is surrounded by a wall and only their own are allowed there. And today the Armenian diaspora is doing everything possible to promote its interests in Israel, allocating huge financial resources to support various projects. There is even an Armenian embassy in Israel. But, unfortunately, to this day the Azerbaijani embassy in Israel has not yet been opened. Many people think that embassies are necessary solely to maintain bilateral relations through diplomatic channels, but is the role of the embassy not only this? The embassy exists primarily in order to convey the position of its country to citizens, to the political establishment, to the media of the country where the embassy is located. Azerbaijan believes that since all issues between Azerbaijan and Israel are resolved rather quickly at the political level, that there are contacts, the embassy is not needed. This is completely wrong, because the main task of the embassy is to work with public opinion. You can contact the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the employees of the Ministry of Defense through their channels. But these contacts affect only a narrow circle of people. However, in a modern democratic society, public opinion and the media are also very important. And such work on the formation of public opinion and the opinion of the political establishment in their favor is carried out by the embassies of various countries constantly. The Armenian patriarchate and community in Israel is also doing similar work, and very skillfully. And Azerbaijan does not have an embassy in Israel. And various Azerbaijani organizations in Israel, neither in their status, nor in funding, nor in their activities, can be a substitute for the embassy. The author is the president of the Eastern Partnership Institute (Jerusalem)

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