#armenian genocide 2023
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Friday Roundup! News moving fast …
- 80k out of 120k indigenous Armenians violently removed from Artsakh by the #ButcherofBaku
- After the 9 month blockade many have died in the 3-day traffic jam as they flee #theTurks
- Countless atrocities committed and celebrated by Azerbaijan in the towns and villages of Artsakh: unknown thousands of beheadings, torture, kids, etc.
- NYT, BBC, most other Western news actively excuse Azerbaijan’s #EthnicCleansing because their governments don’t want to be required to do anything by international law
- Azerbaijan illegally kidnapped famous philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan as he was trying to flee ethnic cleansing, he is most likely being tortured in captivity
- Turks have a kill list of 400 Armenians in Artsakh that they are grabbing as they flee through Lachin to Armenia, media and political figures including several reporters and Artak Beglaryan, the human rights ombudsman for Artsakh, who is disabled
- Azeri military is destroying countless Armenian cultural sites as they devour a 3k year civilization
- Almost all the human rights groups and UN are silent due to Azeri Turkish bribes
- Western news actively required by their governments to pretend this isn’t genocide
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People & countries mentioned in the thread:
DR Congo - M23, Cobalt
Darfur, Sudan - International Criminal Court, CNN, BBC (Overview); Twitter Explanation on Sudan
Tigray - Human Rights Watch (Ethnic Cleansing Report)
the Sámi people - IWGIA, Euronews
Hawai'i - IWGIA
Syria - Amnesty International
Kashmir- Amnesty Summary (PDF), Wikipedia (Jammu and Kashmir), Human Rights Watch (2022)
Iran - Human Rights Watch, Morality Police (Mahsa/Jina Amini - Al Jazeera, Wikipedia)
Uyghurs - Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) Q&A, Wikipedia, Al Jazeera, UN Report
Tibetans - SaveTibet.org, United Nations
Yazidi people - Wikipedia, United Nations
West Papua - Free West Papua, Genocide Watch
Yemen - Human Rights Watch (Saudi border guards kill migrants), Carrd
Sri Lanka (Tamils) - Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch
Afghans in Pakistan - Al Jazeera, NPR
Ongoing Edits: more from the notes / me
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh/Azerbaijan (Artsakh) - Global Conflict Tracker ("Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict"), Council on Foreign Relations, Human Rights Watch (Azerbaijan overview), Armenian Food Bank
Baháʼís in Iran - Bahá'í International Community, Amnesty, Wikipedia, Minority Rights Group International
Kafala System in the Middle East - Council on Foreign Relations, Migrant Rights
Rohingya - Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, Al Jazeera, UNICEF
Montagnards (Vietnam Highlands) - World Without Genocide, Montagnard Human Rights Organization (MHRO), VOA News
Ukraine - Human Rights Watch (April 2022), Support Ukraine Now (SUN), Ukraine Website, Schools & Education (HRW), Dnieper River advancement (Nov. 15, 2023 - Ap News)
Reblogs with Links / From Others
Indigenous Ppl of Canada, Cambodia, Mexico, Colombia
Libya
Armenia Reblog 1, Armenia Reblog 2
Armenia, Ukraine, Central African Republic, Indigenous Americans, Black ppl (US)
Rohingya (Myanmar)
More Hawai'i Links from @sageisnazty - Ka Lahui Hawaii, Nation of Hawai'i on Soverignty, Rejected Apology Resolution
From @rodeodeparis: Assyrian Policy Institute, Free Yezidi
From @is-this-a-cool-url: North American Manipur Tribal Association (NAMTA)
From @dougielombax & compiled by @azhdakha: Assyrians & Yazidis
West Sahara conflict
Last Updated: Feb. 19th, 2024 (If I missed smth before this, feel free to @ me to add it)
#resources#important#congo#sudan#tigray#sámi#hawai'i#syria#kashmir#iran#uyghurs#china#tibetans#yazidi#west papua#yemen#sri lanka#afghans in pakistan#pakistan#human rights#palestine#twitter#lmk if there's a better reource or I linked smth wrong. I am very tired#my posts#genocide#social justice#nagorno karabakh#Bahá'í#kafala system#qatar
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In case you haven't heard yet: There are officially no Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh also known as the Republic of Artsakh, the survivors of the "Anti-terrorist offensive" attack in September of this year (2023), all the skirmishes since 2020, that killed hundreds of Armenians, have been driven out by Azerbaijan. Armenia has had to decide the fight to return them is a lost cause and would only result in more Armenian death.
The Armenian Genocide in that region is complete. Over a thousand years of Armenian history in that area is done. The Republic of Artsakh will be officially dissolved starting January 1st 2024, this was officially signed by Samvel Shahramanyan. But by the 1st of October, so for a month now, it was considered an empty Republic anyway.
Please consider giving to the Armenia Fund who have pivoted to helping the Artsakh refugees as much as possible.
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Armenians have lived in Jerusalem for 1,600 years and Armenian Palestinians are the oldest group in the Armenian diaspora. From their indigenous land in Artsakh to the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem, Armenians have been facing ethnic cleansing and persecution on multiple fronts. With the escalating genocidal violence in Gaza and the West Bank, armed settler encroachment into Armenian holdings in Jerusalem has fallen under the radar of some pro-Palestine activism and it is critical we do not allow this to happen.
Some context:
( In 1948, Armenians in Jerusalem numbered about 16,000. Today, that number has shrunk; estimates range from 700-1000, with a smaller community in Bethlehem. )
“We are not the objectives of the Israelis, but we occupy a huge chunk of Jerusalem. The fact that we’re here is an obstacle for them, but we’ve been here for 1,600 years and we’re not going anywhere.”
"These are only the most visible of the challenges facing the community....Israeli discrimination, economic decline, and political insecurity have taken a toll on Armenians, encouraging emigration.
A century after the community was nearly annihilated, Armenian Palestinians today say they feel deeply at home in the Holy Land, but fear how much longer they will be able to hold on."
“Don’t ask me about the massacres that happened 100 years ago [1915],” Annie Guluzian said when asked about her experiences as an Armenian Palestinian. “I won’t open [up about] those topics. Because if I do, I will start talking about my brother who was martyred by the Israelis in the [second] Intifada.”
The toll of the Israeli occupation in Palestine is what defines her life today, Guluzian added. Source
Since October 26th, 2023, when the leader of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem announced it would cancel a once-secret 2021 land lease deal with a real estate company that has alleged links to settler interests, the company, Xana Gardens, has sent in armed settlers and bulldozers to steal the land (including Armenian Chruch property and several Armenian families). Armenians have been resisting the occupational forces day in and day out.
From November 5th:
Link to tweet and video
November 5th:
Link to tweet and video
November 22nd:
Link to tweet and thread
November 25th:
Link to tweet and thread
In response, Armenians have created an account on Twitter called SaveTheArq which has been documenting and updating on social media the recent land demolitions by Israeli settlers in the Armenian quarter, they have also launched a fundraiser for legal actions to protect the Armenian quarter and I highly recommend donating, if you can't, please share it around:
#palestine#jerusalem#armenia#armenian diaspora#save the Armenian quarter#free palestine#my liberation as a Palestinian is not complete without the liberation of Armenians and I stand by that#Armenian palestinians#armenian genocide
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“The question now becomes: Will the world respond, or will Armenians face another genocide alone?”
UPDATES:
September 29, 2023
October 3rd, 2023
November 17, 2023
December 17, 2023
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[Image description: A poem titled "רַבִּי / رَبِّي" written Friday, November 17, 2023: Rabbī, I cannot praise your deeds. / Rabbī, no weeping moves you. / Rabbī, your justice is wedded to perversion. / Rabbī, your love looks much like your hatred. / Rabbī, the patriarchs have been gilt as idols. / Rabbī, the Temple has been built into a prison. / Rabbī, mixed multitudes have been spat on. / Rabbī, all oneness has been sported with. / Rabbī, ministering angels have been consigned to wailing. / Rabbī, nameless infants have been fed the world’s silence. / Rabbī, your reddened sea has been exiled from shore. / Rabbī, your holy city has been split in two. / But by whom? / Rabbī, shall I say “them” or “us”? / Rabbī, which people is solely yours? / Rabbī, what image is divine alone? / Rabbī, when comes the Hour of Unlocking? / Rabbī, where hides the Place of Its Glory? / Rabbī, why? Answer now. Answer. End image description.]
note 1: as the title implies, "rabbī" may be read as the hebrew word for "a jewish cleric" or the arabic word for "my l_rd" (i.e., g_d).
note 2: this poem is written from an anti-zionist jewish perspective. therefore the question "by whom? / shall i say 'them' or 'us'?" is not meant to dispute palestine as the oppressed party. rather, it is meant to be taken extremely literally, because it is situated in my individual experience: should i—a muslim in the process of converting to judaism, who has been estranged from jewish community and had my conversion delayed because of zionism; who has no personal ties to israel but is nevertheless complicit in its genocidal actions by nature of living in the warmongering USA which uses my household's tax dollars to fund it; who believes that "all israel are responsible for one another" (shevuot 39a)—refer to the oppressors as "them" or "us"?
ways to help palestine:
decolonize palestine (patreon)
samidoun (calendar of worldwide protests)
palestine action
palestine legal
bds movement
e-sims for gaza
more resources
ways to help congo:
list of donations
boycott & donate
ways to help sudan:
list of donations
fundraiser for a refugee family
action against hunger
ways to help armenia:
all for armenia
armenian food bank
artsakh housing fund
armenian assembly of america action center
ways to help other indigenous peoples around you:
learn about whose land you may be living on
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Okay, @sihatn wishes to be so hung up on the particular war crime the Israeli government is using to excessively slaughter innocent Palestinian civilians, so let’s explain the difference between Genocide, Ethnocide, and Ethnic Cleansing:
Genocide: the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group
Examples: The Armenian Genocide (where the term actually originates), the Shoah/Holocaust, Taíno Genocide, and Rwandan Genocide to name a few.
I have seen some Zionists on this platform and on Instagram argue that Israel cannot be committing Genocide because it is a “very specific instance in history that only includes the Holocaust”. That fact is ardently incorrect. For one, the first event to be called a Genocide and where the term was coined was the Armenian Genocide and countless events have been labeled a Genocide since 1943/1944 when the term was initially coined (including events coined after the fact that had already happened like the aforementioned Taíno Genocide).
Ethnocide: the deliberate and systematic destruction of the culture of an ethnic group or nation without deliberately killing large numbers of people within that ethnic group or nation
Think “kill the Indian, save the man”, the American and Canadian policy against American Indian tribes and First Nations that sought to forcibly assimilate them into W.A.S.P. culture. A similar policy occurred in Hawaii during the “Republic of Hawaii” and “Territory of Hawaii” days, and even the destruction of Yiddish Culture by Zionists in Israel who feared it for being “too Middle Eastern”. Most Re-Education camps fall in this category too.
Ethic Cleansing: the mass expulsion or killing of members of an unwanted ethnic or religious group in a society
This term is relatively new and was coined in the aftermath of the collapse of Yugoslavia and Serbia’s treatment of Croats, Bosnians, and other ethnic minorities, as well as the Stalinist movement of ethnic minorities to different SSRs.
Mass Homicide: the deliberate killing of a large number of people
The only distinction here is the people are not being killed because of their ethnicity or nation, but for ✨ other reasons ✨
Now here’s the kicker, most Zionists would say they are committing Ethnic Cleansing. They might not say it out right, because the term has a nasty connotation, but they will say they’re doing the definition of ethnic cleansing.
Some propaganda reblogging Zionists might claim that they’re just committing Mass Homicide but here’s the thing, almost every example of mass homicide being committed by one nation to another nation has been an example of one of the first three categories. The only real examples of Mass Homicide actually being Mass Homicide occur within a state (see Mao famines, Pol Pot’s mass killings, or the countless purging of communists or anti communists during the Cold War).
Some (wrong) historians may claim the Bengal Famine and Irish Potato Famine were examples of mass Homicide but here’s the thing, in both cases aid from other nations and governments were barred from entering the effected places because the UK forbid it. Food exports were forced to continue to come from Ireland and Bengal because the UK forced it. The reasons these famines were so severe was because the UK had a eugenics inspired belief that the Irish and Bengalis were “sub human animals” and “less deserving of food than the Brits”.
The Irish Potato Famine and Bengali Famine were Genocides, with famine being the preferred method of killing.
Was it intentional at first? Maybe not. Did it become intentional after the fact? Yes.
But this takes us to the most important point. The difference between Genocide, Ethnocide, and Ethnic Cleansing AND Mass Homicide is the intent.
But the intent isn’t truly known until after the fact, when internal government documents are released and the facts of the situation are holistically known.
The Jews/Poles/Romani/etc knew they were going through a Genocide (or well, they didn’t know the word, but they knew what was happening) but most of the outside world didn’t because the N@zis were secretive about it. Yes some activists and Jewish/Polish/Romani/etc diaspora groups warned other governments, but these other governments (US, UK, USSR, China, France, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Italy even) were skeptical.
We don’t full know intent now, but given Herzl and Jabotinsky’s rhetoric which essentially established modern day Zionism and the Israeli state, and the establishment of Area C for Israeli settlement after conflict in the West Bank, the fact that Israel has threatened a Second Nakba, an event internationally acknowledged as ethnic cleansing, the fact that there are oil reserves underneath Gaza and the forcing of 2 million people into an airport sized camp would allow Israel to open up drilling where the ruins of Gaza city lay, or the fact that Israel is an Ethnonationalist country that relies on the superiority of Israelis over Palestinians and other neighbouring countries in order to exist makes the intent known to those of us familiar with the history of this conflict.
Ok ok ok ok ok here’s where I M. Night Shyamalan this whole thing: Genocide, Ethnocide, and Ethnic Cleansing are all the same crime according to multinational organizations like the United Nations. They are all Genocide.
All Ethnocides are Genocides, but not all Genocides are Ethnocides.
All Ethnic Cleansings are Genocides, but not all Genocides are Ethnic Cleansings.
The Nakba was an Ethnic Cleansing, therefore the Nakba was a Genocide.
The Netanyahu administration claims that their on going attack on Gaza is a “new Nakba”.
Nakba = Ethnic Cleansing = Genocide
The Netanyahu administration claims that their on going attack on Gaza is a “new Genocide”.
Genocide carries with it negative connotations. If the term was as widely used in 1944 as it is today, Hitler would deny genocide allegations, just as the Turkish continue to deny genocide allegations from the Armenian Genocide, why the Japanese continue to deny Genocide Allegations during their rule of Korea, Taiwan, parts of Micronesia, Manchuria, and Nanjing. Why the British refuse to acknowledge the Irish Potato Famine or Bengal Famine as Genocides. Why the conservative right want to ban the teaching of American genocides against countless groups (namely Native Americans, African Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Chicanos). And why Zionists get so offended when you refer to the actions of Israel as a Genocide.
Those who commit Genocide will never acknowledge that they are committing genocide. The fact that the current mainstream Zionist reaction, like @sihatn, is to deny that the ongoing genocide exists just proves that one is happening… if the horrific videos didn’t prove it enough (this one is from an American pro Israel source, but it doesn’t not take long to find ones from individuals in Gaza)
In conclusion, Israel is committing a genocide, and if you say otherwise, you are blinded by Ethnonationalism just like the Germans were in the 30s/40s, the Turks were during the 10s/20s and onward, the Brits were for (well forever), and the American right wing is.
If you don’t acknowledge the fact that Israel is committing a Genocide you are part of the problem shawty, and it’s not a good look 😬
#gaza strip#israel#palestine#from the river to the sea palestine will be free#gaza#gaza genocide#news on gaza#gazaunderattack#save gaza#free gaza#am yisrael chai#don’t be antisemitic just be anti genocide#genocide#ethnocide#ethnic cleansing#i stand with israel#isreal#israeli history#jewish history#jumblr#gazaunderfire#stand with gaza#anti zionisim#i stand with palestine#war on gaza#israhell#antisemitism#rwanda#hawaii#native american
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As Israel shut off the electricity, turned off the water, demanded two million people, half of them children, evacuate in 24 hours amidst endless bombing campaigns with the explicit intention of putting civilian safety second to the destruction of Hamas, papers surfaced claiming that Palestinians, with an IQ of only 75, were incapable of governing themselves. Incapable, really, of being human.
The role of race science is to identify those humans that do not have to be classified as people. It is as simple as that. And dehumanization, stripping a group of their capacity to be human, their humanity, is the literal foundation of genocide.
On Tutsi — “Exterminate the cockroaches” Rwanda, 1994.
On Native Americans: “Wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the earth” — United States, 1891
On Armenians: “the Government will view the feeding of such children or any effort to prolong their lives as an act completely opposite to its purpose, since it regards the survival of these children as detrimental.” — Turkey, 1916.
On Tigray “They should be erased and disappear from historical records” — Ethiopia, 2021.
Twenty years prior to effecting the Holocaust, Hitler said of Germany that the “final aim, however, must be the uncompromising removal of the Jews altogether.” And today, in 2023, Israel repeats the same tired story, declaring that they “are fighting human animals” as they rain down thousands of bombs upon an area the size of Rhode Island, destroying hospitals and bakeries and churches in an offensive that declares with every day that passes “the only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian”.
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What's going on in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem? a timeline
Background
700s-1920s: Armenian Christians immigrate to Palestine, at first due to the holy sites there and later (after 1915) fleeing the Armenian genocide. Most of them end up living in a section of Jerusalem known as the Armenian Quarter. An Armenian church / Patriarchate is established that has authority over Armenian Apostolic Christians everywhere.
1923-1947: Britain (who had been given the "mandate," aka direct governmental control, of Palestine by other European colonial powers), empowers Patriarchates in Jerusalem (church leadership) to do things like select their own leaders and sell land without oversight from their communities. This gives Britain more authority and prevents regular Palestinian people from knowing what's going on when it comes to church business including secret real estate deals.
2005-2019: Land in Jerusalem belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate is sliced up, sold, and developed despite attempts to fight it in Israeli courts.
July 2021: The Armenian Patriarchate makes a deal leasing 2.7 acres of land to real estate / development company Xana Gardens (based in Dubai and owned by Israeli businessman Danny Rothman) for between 49 and 98 years. The deal is made without proper oversight and approval, including from within the Patriarchate.
The land in question includes the historical Cows' Garden (Hadiqa al-Baqar / حديقة البقر), now a parking lot; part of a church school; a garden; and five family houses. It makes up about 1/4 of the total land in the Armenian Quarter. No one knows that more than just Cows' Garden is affected.
Xana Gardens wants to build a luxury hotel on some of this land, including Cow's Garden.
Events in 2023
May: Details of the nature of the real estate deal come out. The government of Jordan (I think? these news reports are written in the passive voice) and Armenian institutions try to contact the Patriarchate to express concern about the handling of historically significant sites. The Patriarch does not respond.
11 May: Jordan and Palestine suspend their recognition of Patriarch Nourhan Manougian.
26 October: The Patriarchate announces that it has contacted Xana Gardens to cancel the deal. Xana Gardens does not respond.
Later on 26 October (around 3pm): Israeli bulldozers arrive at Cows' Garden and start tearing up pavement and demolishing a wall. Armenians rush to stand in front of bulldozers and prevent further destruction.
5 November: Rothman and other representatives of Xana Gardens arrive with 15 settlers and tell local Armenians that the land is theirs and they need to leave. Some of the settlers have guns and leashed dogs. About 200 Armenian Palestinians arrive and force the settlers to stand down.
12 and 13 November: Xana Gardens sends bulldozers to Cows' Garden. They do not have necessary permits. Armenians set up constantly rotating vigils at the Gardens and make barricades with pieces of metal and their cars.
15 November, 4:30pm: Israeli settlers drive a convoy of cars into the Garden. Armenians gather around the barricades. The police back the settlers and arrest three Armenians, including one child.
28th December: 30+ settlers attack a group of Armenian bishops, priests, deacons, and seminary students (including Bishop Koryoun Baghdasaryan, the director of the Patriarchate's real estate department) with sticks and nerve agents / tear gas, injuring several.
28th December, later: The Patriarchate releases a statement attributing the attack to Xana Gardens. The development company does not want the Patriarchate to continue trying to reverse the deal through the court system.
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What killing me is the people basically making it seem like Eurovision bad...for just this year. Eurovision needed to become irrelevant for MULTIPLE reasons for many years. Israel literally has hosted the contest twice (1999 and 2019); imagine doing some truly silly lil song and dance contest on occupied land and thinking nothing of it. How only mere checkpoints away, these people are doing their lil jester shit while Palestinians were and continue to be threatned with genocide. And the one attempt in 2019 to remind people of this, aka Iceland waving a banner with the colors of the Palestinian flag with Palestine embroidered on it, were completely censored live and even wiped from DVD footage.
Not to mention the absolute bullshit it is to allow Azerbaijan AND Israel to compete when they've banned Russia. When they've continued to hammer how they will continue to enforce censorship on any attempts to highlight Palestine despite allowing tributes to Ukraine in 2023. Hell, they've already said how they regret allowing their opening act to "compromise the non-political nature" of the show just because he was able to wear a keffiyeh on his wrist. I guess you're only allowed messages of "unity and love" to those who need their plight shared with the world when the ones affected are largely white Europeans huh?
The hypocrisy of this contest is a fucking disgrace and you're all spineless cunts for acting like this shit is valuable in anyway outside your need for entertainment and "escapism", especially above the lives of Palestinians and Armenians.
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Azerbaijani terrorists have renamed the entire Armenian city of Stepanakert - and one of the streets they have renamed after Turkish terrorist Enver Pasha, main architect if the 1915 Armenian genocide.
This will be reflected on Google Maps with full compliance.
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i wonder if the liberal zionists (assuming the more “hardline” zionists would just universally justify all of the israeli state’s actions) who describe israel as a “non-racist” “land back project” for the benefit of “indigenous jews” know about israel’s arms sales to apartheid south africa in 1975? and to the genocidal serb army during the Bosnian civil war 1992-1995? (Or was that one OK because they mostly killed Muslims?) how does that fit into their theoretical model of the zionist project?
What do they think of Israel’s historical record of arms sales?
In 1994, Israeli-made bullets, rifles and grenades were allegedly used in Rwanda’s genocide which killed at least 800,000 people. Israel supplied weapons to the Serbian army that waged war against Bosnia from 1992-1995.
Despite the Israeli government’s own statement in 2018 declaring it had ceased sales to Myanmar, the Haaretz newspaper reported last year that weapons manufacturers continued supplying the military government until 2022, in violation of the 2017 international arms embargo against the country.
And, in September [2023], Israel supplied UAVs, missiles and mortars to Azerbaijan for its campaign to recapture Nagorno-Karabakh, during which 100,000 ethnic Armenians were displaced.
what do they think about israel offering to send nuclear weapons to an apartheid state?
and you can’t say “it was a different time” or say “it was bad but it was like necessary realpolitik” in good faith because the whole zionist argument is that israel as a project was a moral and necessary project the entire time. 1975 and 1995 really are not that long ago in geopolitical terms.
Israel has remained an international arms dealer to this day, selling arms to an estimated 130 countries.
i mean the zionists are the same people who equivocate and/or “softly” justify the 1948 Nakba which was a brazen genocide.
The accusations of holding israel to a “double standard” are also totally empty rhetoric.
1. Do you actually think that within the critics of israel there is a preponderance of people that are OK with apartheid and genocide in any case apart from when israel did it?
2. Putting that aside, if you are considering the question of moral “double standards,” what is YOUR universal moral standard? Are YOU OK with apartheid and genocide when committed by countries and actors other than israel, against predominantly non-jewish demographics? (Often using Israel-supplied weapons, of course.)
And when all is said and done, if you liberal zionists recognize the immorality of the israeli arms industry, how do you possibly plan to stop israel from continuing this abhorrent practice? short of the dissolution of the state of israel of course. Or is your ethnonationalism so strong that any sin is permissible so long as it profits the zionist project? what is your moral red line? what sin could israel possibly commit that you would consider the moral necessity of dissolving the israeli state?
to any jewish person reading, at what point does the supposed moral imperative of the sanctity of life outweigh the supposed moral imperative of a “jewish state?”
as a supposed inheritor of American nationality and Jewish ethnicity, under predominant ideological models there exists this supposed connection between me and America and between me and Zionism and between me and Israel. If i was born in Israel or if i moved there (perhaps to an illegal settlement in the west bank) i would immediately have a directly oppressive relationship to palestinians. (In a similar yet different way to the status i have as a white american...)
In my childhood I was educated about religion, about American history, (including the ugly parts of slavery and genocide and segregation, etc) about racism, about the holocaust, about israel, (including the ugliness of the nakba and the border walls and the checkpoints, etc). The pervasiveness of moral vacuousness and hipocrisy in this country have, for my entire adult life, made me feel alienated from other americans and, yes, from many American Jewish communities. Later in life I met other anti-zionist jews but i felt like there was no way to undo my foundation of irreligiosity, atheism, lack of feeling any strong ethnic, racial, religious, or national identity. (This was contributed to by the fact that one of my parents is an immigrant. a sense of between-ness made me feel an outsider to both my paternal and maternal heritages, and the entire idea of ethnicity and nationality felt somewhat constructed even from early childhood.)
Zionism is the state ideology of Israel and, it seems, the United States as well, partially so. (American Empire has to be propped up through ideology to manufacture consent.) Though, notably, the overwhelming majority of avowed Zionists in the US are, in fact, Evangelical Christians. But that’s something I don’t even want to get into right now.
One of the only things that DOESN’T make me feel alienated is internationalism. I feel a kinship with the distant Palestinian who is bombarded and shot with American-supplied weapons, and with the nearby American who is bludgeoned and shot by Israeli-trained police officers.
(Free Palestine, Death to the American Empire.)
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Fighting Back in an Age of Impunity
Its the last essay of the year and the events going on in Gaza - and similar events elsewhere - had me pondering some thoughts for those who may feel powerless and like they can't do anything. It's not perfect, but its something.
Full essay under the cut. Happy Holidays.
I feel like I increasingly start each of these essays with checking on folks and seeing how they’re doing following “the event” – with whatever “the event” is varying depending on what time of the year the essay is occurring in. When I first started thinking about what I may be writing for my last essay of 2023, I thought the worst event I’d have to think about was Azerbaijan’s assault on Artsakh, which resulted in over 100,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing their homes as Ilham Aliyev finally realized his genocidal dream of cleansing the region and forcing it fully into Azerbaijan by force.
Of course, then October 7th happened.
This is not to say that what happened with Artsakh should be forgotten about by any stretch of the imagination. We definitely shouldn’t forget about Armenia and Azerbaijan – especially as Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, continues to make aggressive statements suggesting it may attack the Republic of Armenia proper in order to secure a corridor to its exclave in Nakhchivan. This is still very important and deserves our attention.
At the same time, if you’ve been following world events at all since October 7th, you kinda know what the most pressing, soul-sucking issue of the moment is. In the weeks since the attacks launched by the Gaza-based Palestinian militant groups – spearheaded by the Islamist political-military movement HAMAS, which largely controls the enclave – Israel has used that unarguable tragedy as an excuse to launch a horrific campaign of violence of its own in revenge, the sheer scale and scope of which has left the Israeli bodycount of October 7th in the dust as more and more Palestinians are killed by the Israel Defense Forces with each passing day – most of them women and children.
I originally was going to shift focus and write something entirely about what’s going on in Gaza, but I was also not sure what more I could say that would be constructive and not simply venting to avoid exploding (something I do on Twitter on a regular basis). I also didn’t want to complete leave Armenia and Azerbaijan in the dust, because I felt there were a lot of parallels between the two situations and their histories (which makes sense since Azerbaijan and Israel have such a cozy relationship, with Israel being one of Azerbaijan’s main arms suppliers in its wars against Armenia and Armenians).
In the end, I decided I wanted to write about something that is more generally going on, and that we’ve seen in Israel’s campaign against Palestinians, Azerbaijan’s campaign against Armenia and Armenians, Russia’s war against Ukraine (which Putin says isn’t ending anytime soon in case you were curious), and other acts of aggression by hostile states and armed groups in what feels like every corner of the globe these days. Everywhere you look, it seems that fascistic states and groups are taking every possible opportunity to try and conquer and kill that which they covet or hate.
We are currently living through what I conceive of as a new “Age of Impunity” in international relations, of which the current assault on Gaza is only one example – though certainly the most egregious and barbaric of the moment. Such ages are not new, and have waxed and waned throughout history, but they all have one core theme in common: during their span, we see a drastic increase in aggression by those states and groups who are determined to hammer home the Thucydidean cliche that “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
But there is a new rub to this tale as old as time. Now, in an age of an increasingly interconnected world via the internet and social media and smart phones and etc., aggressors are not just seeking to prove that might is right, but to gaslight us constantly as they do it, doggedly endeavoring to convince us that this state of affairs is not simply the glib, bleak reality that is allowed to persist in international relations, but is actually good and right and just and fair that those of us that dare question their narrative are insane and sick and even criminal for believing otherwise. To try and add further legitimacy or distance themselves from the acts of information warfare, such aggressors often enlist third parties as well who are aligned to them either ideologically or financially (i.e. they’re paid to).
This combination of consequence free mass violence combined with an aggressive campaign to make you feel insane for not thinking its actually good is enough to make anyone with a moral compass feel actually insane, or to feel incredibly depressed and distraught over it all. Its so easy to feel completely and totally powerless from events such as Gaza and more, boiling over inside with a sense of impotent rage, especially when it seems that all that a key set of individuals and governments would need to do to stop it all – or at least less the impact – is show a modicum of backbone and a slight bit of effort to go along with it, but they don’t.
However, it is important for us all to understand against this backdrop of slaughter, that we are not powerless – not completely. There are limits on our power as “normal” people, absolutely; but we are not totally powerless, and the longer we go on thinking that the longer this Age of Impunity will last – to say nothing of other negative states of affairs we’d rather not stick around. There are actions that we as people can take to try and effect better outcomes. These actions are often indirect, focusing on applying pressure in various forms on those who can actually do something or who can otherwise force someone else to do something, but are none the less impactful and not to be disregarded.
To the end of helping folks not feel powerless in the face of impunity and aggression and giving them a concept through which they can push back on aggression and fascism and authoritarianism worldwide, I’ve crafted an approach of my own. The approach I’ve conceived of is extremely simple, straightforward, broad, long-term and almost certainly incomplete – but a start. So, if the gifts you’re looking to get this holiday season are a shred of hope, a sense of purpose, a modicum of agency, and the ability to actually make an impact upon ongoing global events, let’s open up Santa’s big bag of toys and see what’s inside for all the good little guys, gals, and non-binary pals out there. Ho ho ho.
BLUF: “Don’t Shut Up”
I already warned you that my plan is pretty simple. What I haven’t warned you is that this plan, in a nutshell, may make some people roll their eyes and go “yeah, right, whatever” (or something more impolite), so consider yourself warned of that now.
So, the plan? Don’t shut up.
Ok, obviously this is going to need more expounding upon.
To build upon “don’t shut up” in more detail, the plan is simply to not give up voicing your opposition to the unjustifiable acts of aggression going on throughout the world – whoever it is that is undertaking them, whenever they occur, and wherever they occur. This opposition can come in various forms, be it protests and various other forms of activism and civil disobedience, both physical and virtual, but it really can be boiled down to those three words: don’t shut up. Keep talking – shouting, rather – about what’s going on and don’t let people forget what’s going on.
Not to get defensive right off the bat, but I am anticipating some people reading this feeling a bit disappointed, dismissive (maybe to the point of eye-rolling), or frustrated with this simple approach. So I want to take a little time to push back gently before we get more into the nuts and bolts. I’m going to try and not go on for too long with this because I wrote this earlier and fully made half of the essay me being defensive so be thankful I went back to make this part shorter.
First, to those saying “that’s it?” I would say, ‘yes’; but with the caveat that while its a simple answer, its also a simple problem (which I will get into more detail about later). To those saying “that won’t work,” I would say “based on what?” I feel the problem with that strain of preemptive defeatism, dismissiveness, and doomerism are a uniquely American-centric perspective that is focused only on our own experiences – and also, a very recent and limited view of them. All you need to do is look to the rest of the world to see instances where mass movements that refused to be silenced and maintained pressure accomplished the ousting of various dictators and autocrats (I picked relatively recent examples here, but you can look even further back). I know we’re all tired and demoralized and depressed (hence why I’m writing this), but all you need do is widen the aperture a bit and look beyond our shores to see that things are not as hopeless as they seem. That doesn’t mean that there are quick and easy solutions (something else I’ll get into – we’re in this for the long haul), but again, that doesn’t mean that we are powerless and that our actions mean nothing.
Ok, I got my defensive preemptive pushback on doomerism out of the way and I did it in two paragraphs instead of a page and a half. You’re welcome. So let’s actually get into the nuts and bolts.
Using the potential criticism of “that’s it?” as a starting off point, I will concede again that t his is a very simple approach. But, I would also assert that the activity that this approach is crafted to counter is actually fairly simple in its own right when you think about it. It makes sense that a relatively simple problem demands a relatively simple answer (note that just because the idea is simple doesn’t mean the execution will be quick or easy, but we’ll get to that).
Regardless of the approach or the medium through which they are attempting it, in the information sphere, the ultimate goal of an aggressor to is to silence criticism and to boost its own narratives and supporters. If aggressors can’t coerce or cajole you to their side, they’ll settle for getting you to shut up by whatever means are at their disposal – which is just as good to them; it doesn’t matter if they don’t actually have a lot of popular support at home or abroad, but as long as they can silence dissent and criticism and keep their narrative as the main one, they can just keep on doing what they’re doing.
This can take multiple different forms: drowning you out with torrents of useless, twisted, or outright false information, intimidating you through hostility and harassment, depressing you by making you feel weak and powerless and convincing you that there is absolutely nothing that can stop them (potentially giving you a genuine mental breakdown through their gaslighting), and mental and emotional exhaustion from some or all of what was previously described, just to name a few different methods. These methods may be utilized by the aggressors themselves, or through various allies, partners, and proxies – be they other states and organizations various individuals who are consciously or unconsciously boosting the aggressor’s narratives and attacking the aggressor’s detractors. But the end goal of all of these methods remains the same in every case, but in different guises: to shut you up. If the aggressor’s goal is that simple, it make sense that our response doesn’t need to be that complicated either: deny them their objective by simply refusing to be silenced and, in fact, continuously increasing that pressure.
If information is a domain in warfare, it is probably appropriate to think of your role in it not as a soldier in the army of a peer competitors in a high-end conventional fight. Rather, you should think of yourself as a fighter in an insurgent army, and as this information warfare as an insurgency or rebellion or an uprising rather than the information equivalent of a conventional war (at least not at this stage; we have a few more stages of Mao’s guide to get through first in this analogy). If you conceive of it that way, it can make your task seem even more daunting, but then it also can reveal the inherent advantages that we have in our approach and the challenges it creates for an aggressor trying to manage information.
The Cognitive Insurgency of Attrition
I’ve talked about insurgency and counter-insurgency in the physical domains of warfare before at great length, with my main takeaway being that counter-insurgency is almost always a losing game for whoever is acting as the COIN force. Unless they are prepared to make significant political concessions, they are likely to never win; the best they can ever hope for is to not lose – which will require constant fighting and expenditure of resources of all kinds, indefinitely (something that few countries, even reasonably prosperous and powerful ones, can hope to keep up).
Recalling that takeaway, your advantage and the disadvantage of the aggressor becomes clearer. When I said earlier that really all you have to do is not shut up, I really meant it, because as long as you and others refuse to be gaslit and continue to speak out against particular aggression and injustices, the aggressor is failing at the primary objective they have regarding you. As long as you exist and continue to act and speak out, they will continue to have to expend time and resources to try and counter you. The struggle with the aggressor becomes a battle of wills, and by simply continuing to exist and refusing to be silenced, you are wearing them down in a war of attrition. The more they are worn down, the more likely they are to make mistakes and to show more of their true colors, and the full extent of the horror becomes harder and harder for more and more actors (be they people, organizations, states, and etc.) to ignore and turn a blind eye to, and the pressure mounts to take actual action.
This whole approach and the idea of not shutting up and not giving up is closely tied to another idea, which is that “bullying works” (another thing I originally had in a section unto itself, for another peek behind the curtain, but decided it wasn’t dissimilar enough to separate out). As you refuse to be silenced and continue to speak out and apply pressure, one form of that pressure, is in effect, “bullying.” Basically, making sure that those who are either taking part in various acts of aggression or who are facilitating it or supporting indirectly won’t get a moments peace in their lives as long as they continue to do so. They need to be shown that people will not forget what’s going on and will not go away and will be reminding those who are carrying out out aggression or supporting it at every possible opportunity and be making their lives very difficult for as long as it takes and for as much as it takes until change for the better occurs. Remember kids: bullying by punching down (figuratively), is bad; but bullying by punching up (again, figuratively), is not only good, but necessary for a healthy society!
The inherent downside to this overall approach, of course, is that it is a long-term one. This is not a single battle, but a broader campaign in the wider war against aggression and authoritarianism and fascism. This in its own right may be discouraging to some, but also a bitter pill that must be swallowed. To be perfectly clear: this is not me saying that we shouldn’t bother trying to apply pressure and affect change on issues in the short term. To use our primary example of Gaza once more, we should absolutely be trying in the short term to bring more pressure to bear to bring about a lasting ceasefire and greater humanitarian relief and more in Palestine. However, we’d be deluding ourselves if we believed any action we take right now would suddenly and decisively end the occupation and fundamentally change the political status quo in Palestine in the short term.
As discouraging as this reality can be, it should not dissuade us from taking action, but compel us to gear up for the long fight. Much as the right is willing and able to do with its policy goals at home and abroad, we need to undertake more generational and multi-generational efforts to achieve our aims in all areas – especially when it comes to foreign policy and international relations. Like an actual insurgent force fighting an occupying army or authoritarian regime, we must take a long-term view. This long-term view may encompass short term surges and bursts of activity to achieve specific, tangible, secondary and tertiary goals (like a ceasefire, humanitarian aid, or what have you), but its primary goals and planning must be fundamentally protracted in nature.
Even if you understand, agree with, and accept the protracted nature of this approach, that doesn’t mean it can’t still be demoralizing in the short term. However, there are reasons to be optimistic, because if you look around you can see the signs that this approach is already bearing fruit. In the case of Gaza, you can see signs that the dedication to not “shutting up” about the plight of the Palestinian people on the receiving end of Israel’s military campaign in how the Israeli government and its supporters are either becoming more deranged in their defensiveness for their actions, with some Israeli government officials being increasingly mask off about their genocidal intentions towards Palestinians and their homes, as well as increasingly dismissive towards ideas such as the two-state solution – which governments like that of the United States continue to cling to. We also see this in the reaction of some states supportive of Israel, such as the United Kingdom, where now former-Home Secretary Suella Braverman labeled all pro-Palestinian protesters in the country as “hate marchers” (and was fired from her post not long after that).
In other cases, where governments and groups supporting Israel haven’t gone fully deranged, its becoming increasingly difficult for them to look the other way in the face of Israel’s mask-off violence and aggression. Even as US President Joe Biden continues to stand by Israel doggedly and assert its right to “defend itself”, the administration has internally squirmed at Israeli actions (as well as the potential for escalation). While the administration continues to fruitlessly try and have it both ways (which is fundamentally impossible and only wastes time as more civilians die), the fact that they’re even attempting to do that rather than continue to support Israel wholeheartedly shows that the pressure is mounting. This is born out by polls in the United States that show that support for Palestinians is rising. If aggressors and those running support for them are lashing out or are becoming more desperate in their attempts to control the narrative or silence opposition or even have a leg to stand on in their support, those are signs that the pressure that countless regular people are bringing to bear with their humanity is having an impact. Don’t give up now.
I am once again asking you not to give in to despair
We can’t stop everything going on in the world on our own as individuals, that’s true. And posting alone also won’t stop anything – that’s also true (as much as a lot of us wish it would – or convinced ourselves it will). But we are absolutely not powerless, and we must avoid falling into that trap, or the aggressors win right off the bat.
You are fighting in one particular campaign in a much wider war against aggression and fascism and authoritarianism the world over. There are other fronts that exist now and there will be more in the future – both physical, and virtual. But combat of various sorts (literal and figurative) will be required on all of them in order to achieve successes. It is a collective effort; we are are all in this together, in numerous different ways. To crib a line from the trade union anthem Solidarity Forever: “yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one, but the union makes us strong.”
The broader struggle against fascism and aggression will be a long war, and all likelihood, it will likely never end in an absolute victory, and only be one in a series of wars and struggles to come (again, both figurative and literal). As I’ve always said in my writing, part of the reason I’m sure people like me will still have a job even in a better world is because there will always be authoritarian aggressors of some kind who can convince others to fight and die for them in service of their rancid ideology and hatred (hence why I say a “better world” and not a “perfect” one). But even if we there will always be another enemy around the corner in some shape or form, we can set ourselves up to be stronger, smarter, more united, more compassionate, and better prepared for the additional struggles and wars ahead.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that everything I just talked about isn’t exclusively for responding to acts of aggression abroad, but is perfectly applicable at home as well. The approach that I’ve laid out can be applied to fascist aggressors of the domestic political variety, just as much as they can be applied to aggressor states and groups overseas engaging in armed aggression. In the United States in particular, we face an ever increasing war from within. Even if the political crisis in the United States doesn’t escalate to the level of a full scale civil war (something that I certainly don’t want, that I imagine most sane people don’t want, and something we should all work to avoid), we still find ourselves in an American Years of Lead situation at bare minimum that will very likely only get worse as we approach the 2024 election. Again, we can see some promising signs that these approaches are actually working, from the progressive gains that have been made in recent off-year elections on matters such as abortion, legalization of marijuana, and other progressive causes – many of which have been in response to right-wing forces doubling down on their extreme positions in desperation as normal people increasingly point out and deride their “sicko” behavior and refuse to let it go unanswered.
However, as heartening as these victories are, polling shows that the 2024 election is looking increasingly fraught, and nothing should be taken for granted in the eleven months that remain before election day 2024 – especially as former-President Donald Trump has been perfectly blunt about what his plans are if he makes it back into the White House (to say nothing of the coterie of other sickos and chuds that he will put into positions of power in his administration if he wins). While far from the only tool at your disposal, the approach I have laid out previously for pushing back on the narratives of fascism, authoritarianism and aggression abroad may very well make a real difference in the rhetorical and political battles against those same insidious forces at home. Keep that in mind on the road to November 5th, 2024 (or, if you live outside the United States, to road to whatever political battles you have to face in the near future).
We live in particularly bleak times in general, there’s no arguing that. This current Age of Impunity we find ourselves in has no shortage of dictators, tyrants, and fascists who are eager to take advantage of global instability and shifting geopolitics to take things they’ve long coveted, settle scores and seek revenge, and carry out a laundry list of other heinous acts. But even in those acts of aggression, we can find hope. For example, in Myanmar, a diverse coalition of varied ethnic groups – spearheaded by young people – are pushing the fascist junta back on its heels in that country’s civil war. While their battle is far from over, the progress they’ve made in recent weeks since launching a new offensive against the junta has been remarkable. Wherever we can, we need to grab onto examples of maintaining persistence, applying pressure, and not giving up hope – whether its on literal battlefields, or political and ideological ones. We need to take the progress and victories where we can, to remind us why we’re doing any of this at all: because we believe a better world is not only possible, but necessary and inevitable.
It is on that note, I leave you on this last essay of 2023. I’ll be back with another by mid-March at the absolute latest for the first essay of 2024 (God only knows what I’ll be writing about by then, but we’ll see where Mr. Bones’ Wild Ride takes us all). For those of you who are celebrating, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season, and also a Happy New Year to you all. Please, wherever and whenever you’re able, even while you all try to keep up the struggle, try to find some time to rest and be kind to yourself because we all need that.
See you in 2024. Stay safe.
#War Takes#essay#War Takes essay#leftism#leftist#the left#socialism#democratic socialism#international relations#war#warfare#fascism#anti fascism#Palestine#Gaza#Israel#Palestinians#international affairs#information warfare#HAMAS
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DON’T STOP TALKING ABOUT PALESTINE, and Palestine isn’t the only one you should be raising awareness for, also raise awareness for the other countries that are suffering and going through a genocide. I have seen so many people say “free ___” while not even being aware on what is happening there. Do not fail to educate yourself:
MYANMAR:
ARMENIA
“The question now becomes: Will the world respond, or will Armenians face another genocide alone?”
SUDAN:
#free palestine#free armenia#eyes on sudan#myanmar#save sudan#save myanmar#armenia#Sudan#myanmar Crisis
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BY ARSEN OSTROVSKY AND STANISLAV PAVLOVSCHI,
If anyone is guilty of genocide here, it is the internationally recognized terrorist group Hamas. Not only does Hamas openly state that the destruction of Israel is its ultimate goal, as evidenced in its Charter, it acted out on those intentions on Oct. 7, when Hamas massacred over 1,200 Israelis, including raping, burning, mutilating and executing women and children.
That there have been civilian casualties in Gaza is tragic, but it is also the inevitable consequence of Hamas using its own people as human shieldsand embedding its military operations in schools, hospitals, kindergartens and homes. Notwithstanding this challenge, the IDF have gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid casualties and abide by principles of international humanitarian law.
For example, the IDF has been warning civilians in Gaza to evacuate before a pending attack and providing safe passage for them to do so, while at all times adhering to the principles of distinction and proportionality in aiming only at Hamas military targets. The proportionality of operations are also examined by the IDF’s Military Advocate General’s Office, Israel’s attorney general and the relevant commanders on the ground before being carried out.
In baselessly leveling the charge of genocide against Israel, all that South Africa is doing is engaging in a form of lawfare as a proxy of the Iranian regime and Hamas. Furthermore, South Africa is only diminishing real acts of genocide, such as those that occurred in the Holocaust, as well as against Armenians, Yazidis, in Rwanda, Darfur and Syria more recently.
In a Oct. 24 interview, senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad gleefully stated that the terror group would repeat the Oct. 7 massacre “again and again” until Israel was “annihilated,” openly admitting the group’s genocidal intentions.
In response, then British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly commented,“How can there be peace when Hamas are committed to the eradication of Israel?”
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Though their relationship is relatively discreet, Israeli equipment makes up most of Azerbaijan’s arms imports, according to arms researchers. Azerbaijani officials touted Israel’s weapons as integral to their country’s success in Nagorno-Karabakh during the 2020 war.
Now, as over 100,000 ethnic Armenians have fled Nagorno-Karabakh in the latest conflict there, Israeli-Azerbaijani ties have come under scrutiny, with an editorial in Israel’s most prominent left-wing newspaper Haaretz proclaiming that the country’s “fingerprints are all over the ethnic cleansing” in Nagorno-Karabakh.[...]
Azerbaijan and Israel are close military partners. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), more than 60% of Azerbaijani weapons imports came from Israel between 2017 and 2020, making up 13% of Israeli exports during the same period. SIPRI research reveals that Azerbaijan purchased a wide variety of drones, missiles, and mortars from Israel between 2010 and 2020.
However, according to SIPRI senior researcher Pieter Wezeman, certain specifics are unknown about the extent of the ongoing Azerbaijani-Israeli weapons trade.
“We had quite some information before 2020 and then it stops,” Wezeman said. “And that doesn’t really make sense because in 2020 Azerbaijan used a significant amount of its equipment… Most likely they have continued their relationship with Israel, but that’s about as far as we know.”
The trade is believed to be particularly active in periods just before Azerbaijan has gone to war. A March 2023 investigative report by Haaretz found that flights by an Azerbaijani airline between Baku and Ovda air base, the only airport in Israel through which explosives can be flown, spiked in the months just before Azerbaijan attacked separatist positions in Karabakh in September 2020.
Likewise, Haaretz reported in mid-September that the same company flew between Baku and Ovda less than a week before Azerbaijan began its latest assault in Nagorno-Karabakh. CNN reached out to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense and the airline in question, but did not receive a response. The Israeli Ministry of Defense, which oversees Ovda Airport, had no comment.
“We don’t know what was on board, but very likely it is something related to the military equipment that Israel already has supplied to Azerbaijan before,” Wezeman said.[...]
The weapons trade between Israel and Azerbaijan mirrors their diplomatic relationship, once described in a leaked US diplomatic cable as “like an iceberg, nine-tenths of it… below the surface.” Despite decades of bilateral cooperation, Azerbaijan only opened an embassy in Israel this year.[...]
But their ties go beyond guns and ammunition: OEC figures show that Israel bought 65% of its crude oil from Azerbaijan in 2021. The countries are also believed to share intelligence on Iran, Israel’s archenemy, with which Azerbaijan shares a border and which has a substantial ethnic Azeri population that constitutes the country’s largest minority. Azerbaijan has also reportedly allowed the Israeli spy agency Mossad to use it as a hub to spy on Iran. (The Israeli Ministry of Defense declined to comment on the matter.)[...]
Oil and arms sales continue. Azerbaijan feels greater pressure from Iran whose international position is improving,” Inbar told CNN in an email. “There is no great sympathy (in Israel) for Armenia that is seen as an Iranian ally.”
In a recent interview with the Jerusalem Post, Armenia’s ambassador to Israel said Israeli weapons are being fired at “peaceful civilians” despite Israeli civil society being “very pro-Armenia in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh and recognition of the Armenian genocide.” (Israel’s government does not recognize the mass murder of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I as genocide, fearing damage to its relationship with Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire.)[...]
In October 2020, Azerbaijan repeatedly struck the area near an electrical substation in Stepanakert using Israeli-made weapons. The former lieutenant colonel in the Artsakh Defense Army told CNN he witnessed one of these attacks personally. The diameter and depth of the crater there showed that the Azerbaijani military had used a LORA missile, he said, adding that it hit a residential building.[...]
A spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Defense said they had no comment when reached by CNN.
4 Oct 23
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