ANCA to Israeli Ambassador: Stop Sale of Lethal Weapons to Azerbaijan

“Ensure that Israel will never be complicit in a second Armenian Genocide,” writes ANCA Chairman Raffi Hamparian to Ambassador of Israel to the U.S. Ron Dermer

October 5, 2020

Washington, DC – Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Raffi Hamparian, in a frank and direct letter to Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, asked that “Israel immediately halt the sale or transfer of lethal or dual-use material and technology to Azerbaijan.”

Hamparian shared that since the September 27th Azerbaijani surprise attack on Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and Armenia, Israeli produced military drones and LORA missiles have been used indiscriminately against civilian populations centers. “Shipments of these and other deadly weapons must be ended immediately, as a matter of basic morality and both Israeli and international humanitarian law,” stated Hamparian.

Hamparian concluded the letter noting “We look to you to urgently convey our concerns to the Israeli government, to work toward an immediate halt to all arms sales and transfers to Azerbaijan, and to ensure that Israel will never be complicit in a second Armenian Genocide.”

The full text of the ANCA letter to Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer is provided below.

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Text of ANCA Chairman Raffi Hamparian’s Letter to Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer

October 5, 2020

The Honorable Ambassador Ron Dermer
Embassy of Israel
3514 International Drive N.W.
Washington D.C. 20008

Dear Ambassador Dermer:

I write today on behalf of Americans of Armenian heritage – a community that shares with our Jewish American brothers and sisters a painful history of genocide and an equally profound concern for our at-risk homelands – to ask that Israel immediately halt the sale or transfer of lethal or dual-use material and technology to Azerbaijan.

The surprise September 27th attack – and the sustained aggression by Azerbaijan in the days since this unprovoked offensive – have targeted civilians in both Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and Armenia using weapons manufactured in the state of Israel. Among these are armaments prohibited for use against civilian populations, including Israeli-produced military drones and LORA missiles. Shipments of these and other deadly weapons must be ended immediately, as a matter of basic morality and both Israeli and international humanitarian law.

To continue to arm Azerbaijan with advanced weaponry – in the knowledge of Baku’s deployment of these armaments produced in Israel to target the innocent Armenian civilians of a landlocked, blockaded, genocide-survivor nation – is to aid and abet the combined efforts of Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey to complete the work of 1915, to kill Armenians, destroy Artsakh, and eradicate Armenia in pursuit of their pan-Turkish ambitions.

We look to you to urgently convey our concerns to the Israeli government, to work toward an immediate halt to all arms sales and transfers to Azerbaijan, and to ensure that Israel will never be complicit in a second Armenian Genocide.

Sincerely,

Raffi Haig Hamparian
Chairman

Cc: Hon. Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State
U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Senate