Armenians Should Counter Azerbaijan’s Pressure on Israel to Deny the Genocide

Harut Sassounian

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN,

As relations between Israel and Turkey have become increasingly strained in recent years, shifting from strategic alliance to outright hostility, many analysts began to wonder about the Israeli government’s uncharacteristically muted reaction to Turkish Pres. Erdogan’s anti-Semitic diatribes and anti-Israeli actions.

Under these circumstances, Armenians and their supporters are puzzled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued complicity in the Turkish government’s denial of the Armenian Genocide and the blocking of its recognition by the Knesset (parliament).

Some Middle East experts offer two explanations of Israel’s puzzling stance:

1) Despite the apparent bad blood between Israel and Turkey, the two countries continue their covert intelligence sharing and arms trade.

2) Azerbaijan, Turkey’s junior brother, has taken an aggressive role in pressuring Israel not to recognize the Armenian Genocide by using as leverage its purchase of billions of dollars of advanced Israeli weapons, providing Israel much needed petroleum products, and a base in Baku to infiltrate and spy on Iran with which it has a 400-mile border.

The Israeli government has become so overly sensitive to Azerbaijan’s diktats that during a recent visit by Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to Jerusalem, Israel’s Foreign Minister rudely refused to meet with him. Only through a last minute intervention, Mr. Nalbandian managed to meet with the President of Israel.

An article in the November 1 issue of The Jerusalem Post fully illustrates the extent of Israel’s kowtowing to Azerbaijan. At a time when most Western groups, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), refused to monitor Azerbaijan’s Parliamentary elections because of restrictions imposed by Baku, four Israeli Knesset members rushed to Azerbaijan to show their support for Aliyev’s despotic regime!

The Israeli delegation, led by former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, now chairman of the Israel-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Group, included ex-ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, Sofa Landver, and Yoel Razbozov.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Lieberman, as Foreign Minister, “worked to strengthen Israeli ties with Azerbaijan,”