The World Jewish Center in Yerevan, Armenia was vandalized on Tuesday night, which many believe to be a direct consequence of Israel’s strengthening relations with Azerbaijan.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region, historically inhabited by ethnic Armenian Christians, remains at the center of a longstanding conflict between Azerbaijanis and Armenians over territorial control.
The improved relations between Israel and Azerbaijan have prompted supporters of the Armenian separatist government in Nagorno-Karabakh to target the Jewish center in Yerevan.
The attackers issued a statement, asserting, “The Jews are the enemies of the Armenian nation, complicit in Turkish crimes and the regime of Aliyev. The Jewish state provides weapons to [President Ilhan] Aliyev’s criminal regime, and Jews from America and Europe actively support him. Turkey, Aliyev’s regime, and the Jews are the sworn enemies of the Armenian state and people.”
The statement also contained a chilling warning: “If Jewish rabbis in the United States and Europe continue to support Aliyev’s regime, we will continue to burn their synagogues in other countries. Every rabbi will be a target for us. No Israeli Jew will feel safe in these countries.”
Armenia’s Jewish community
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), in response to the incident, said, “The vandalism of the World Jewish Center in Armenia is distressing. The Jewish community in Armenia is not a party to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
He urged Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan to condemn the act and called for increased security measures for the Jewish community. Goldschmidt expressed his solidarity with the Jewish community in Armenia and hoped they could peacefully observe the holiday of Sukkot.
According to the World Jewish Congress estimates, Armenia is home to about around 500-1000 Jews, mostly of Ashkenazi origin with some Mizrahi and Georgian Jews, localized in the capital, Yerevan.
An ethnically diverse country, Armenia has had a deep historical connection to Judaism. Today, the small Armenian Jewish community is able to practice Judaism freely, though there have been several manifestations of antisemitism.
Russia exchanged views with the United States and the European Union on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh ahead of the lightning military operation by Azerbaijan last month, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
Politico earlier reported that top officials from the US and the EU met their Russian counterparts in Turkey for emergency talks about Karabakh just days before Azerbaijan launched its operation in the breakaway region.
“The US and EU approached us and asked us to hold a meeting,” Zakharova told reporters. She said the sides exchanged views on the situation in Karabakh.
“There was nothing secret about this meeting; it was an ordinary exchange of views. We shall see how the West will present all this now.”
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