A recent controversy regarding a letter signed by 32 members of Knesset that supported the Azeri minority in Iran has the potential to be used against Israel and be seen to undermine some of the protests against the regime in Tehran.
Toward this end, many who signed rescinded their signatures. This unusual incident reflects the complexities of the Middle East and the position that Israel is in today as a country that has stronger ties throughout the region and is seen as playing a larger role in the Middle East’s affairs.
Throughout Israel’s history and prior to the creation of the state, these types of controversies erupted many times. For instance, during the decades leading up to the British-backed Balfour Declaration, early Zionist officials reached out to the Ottoman Empire and the German kaiser with the hopes of securing backing for Jewish immigration. In this context, powerful empires saw Jews as potentially serving their interests.
Later, in the 1950s, when the young state was looking for friends on the global plane, it worked with France and the UK in the lead up to the 1956 War of Attrition. This enabled Israel’s enemies to frame it as a servant of colonial empires, a view the Soviets and Arab nationalists exploited.
On the other hand, the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East has often been seen as an inspiration and potential ally to other minorities in the region.
Kurds, long oppressed by numerous countries, have often seen Israel as a potential friend. During the months before the independence referendum in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2017, some people waved Israeli flags. The Iranian regime and other enemies of the referendum framed the referendum as backing a pro-Israel Kurdish state, a “second Israel” in the region.
Today, the Iranian regime looks to do the same, framing Israel as a backer of “separatists” or “terrorists” and claiming that Israel wants to “dismember” Iran. So, when Israel, or some Israelis, back minority groups in Iran, this can be used against them or against the Iranian opposition.
Iran has a large number of minority groups, including Azeris, Kurds, Baloch people and Arabs. The recent protests from Iran began last year after regime police murdered Kurdish Mahsa Amini for not covering her hair in accordance with modesty laws. The protests adopted a Kurdish slogan: Woman, Life, Freedom.
KNESSET MEMBERS who signed the letter backing the Azeri minority did so on the eve of a visit by Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to Azerbaijan. The country neighbors Iran, with an Azeri minority that lives in northern Iran near Azerbaijan.
Israel and Azerbaijan are close strategic partners, something that has come to greater light recently as Iran increased its rhetoric against Baku, accusing Azerbaijan of working closely with Israel. While Israel’s close ties to Baku come under the format of state-to-state relations, backing for Azeris inside Iran could be more controversial.
While Cohen’s Azerbaijan visit was underway, the son of the late Mohammed Reza Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, visited Israel. The letter backing Azeris in Iran came at a complex time. Pahlavi has since condemned it, saying that “the verbal assault on Iran’s territorial integrity by 32 members of the Israeli parliament is completely unacceptable and a service to the interests of the anti-Iranian Islamic Republic regime.”
Azeris and their quality of life in Iran
The support for Azeris in Iran is not necessarily linked to Israel-Azerbaijan relations, but Israel’s overall posture is that it is keen to understand Azerbaijan. Therefore, many Israelis – including parliamentarians – are likely to be sympathetic to the Azeri cause.
This sentiment tends to extend to the Kurds as well. This can mean, however, that Israel can be called upon to back certain political groups, and it is not always in Israel’s interests to be linked to them. This isn’t necessarily true when we are talking about a larger community.
The Middle East is complex, and it is easy to cause offense or appear to play into the hands of adversaries, even unintentionally. Israel knows this, but that doesn’t mean that every Knesset member is keyed into the wider geopolitical issues or perceptions, or even understands that certain terms may be twisted to have a perception of something that was unintended.
The current controversy over the letter may end up being a tempest in a teapot. It may also be recalled as an example of how some see Israel as a monolith that can be easily encouraged to back one cause or another; they may lack the subtle understanding that Israel cannot be all things to all people.
In essence, whereas it is in Israel’s interest that the Tehran regime stop its threats, Israel isn’t a magic wand for the opposition.
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