One Muslim Nation’s Brave Support of Israel
In so many ways the world is a giant schoolyard playground. It possesses its bullies, jocks, popular cliques, and the nebbishes who hang around praying they will go unnoticed and avoid beatings by the bully contingency.
It is an unusual mix indeed. Deciding whom to befriend is one of the decisions one makes on that playground that will most greatly impact daily life — often, one’s entire future.
Many who possess weakness seek out the protection of the power brokers. This is also done regularly on the world stage. Rarely does one see the quiet kid show the guts to take on the biggest bullies.
I suppose this is why I have such enormous respect for the country of Azerbaijan, notably a secular and modern majority-Muslim nation.
New on the world playground, having gained independence after the fall of the Soviet Union, it has found itself in a location fraught with danger. Placed between Russia and Iran, it is wedged in like a mouse between two powerful cats.
Iran has made no secret it will actively attempt to take control of this young country through whatever means necessary. Its determination to infiltrate through radical Islamic mullahs has been thwarted thus far by the Azerbaijan government, but covert activities continue and will no doubt ramp up if and when it becomes possible.
Its position next to Russia is also a bit disconcerting. Russia is another longstanding bully, more stealth-like, but inherently dangerous.
One would think that by living in such a neighborhood, Azerbaijan would be careful about whom it invites to dinner.
Ah, but one would be mistaken. This gutsy little country has the sheer audacity to befriend the most hated country on the playground — Israel.
Relations between the two countries have grown stronger over the years and this friendship has put enormous pressure on Azerbaijan in the international community. Iran’s wrath is no secret and Russia’s duplicity is never as well hidden as it believes.
So why take on this enormous risk? What is the thinking that compels a government to place itself right in the middle of the hottest hotbed on the planet?
The decision to befriend Israel was not an accident. Although in life we may sometimes find ourselves judged through our own silence, Azerbaijan has not been silent about this alliance; in fact, it is quite the opposite. This decision to invite Israel into its inner circle was conscious and overt, which brings up another issue: the strength and determination of the country to stand on its own, decide its own destiny, and choose its own friends.
Fascinating story, Norma. Do you know why the Azeri’s chose this route?
Nice to hear about this. In some small way, the Azeri’s seem to be taking the place of Turkey as a friend of Isreal. Boy, does Isreal need ‘em!
ISRAEL doesnt have or need friends so long as they have american support ! israel would not exist or have been created without american support after the pullout of U. K. east of suez ! azerbyjon has what israel needs in raw materials, the serbs are much the same as israelies, birds of a feather kosovo is poor ,so jews want nothin ta do wit em ! three billion $$$ of U. S. tax money goes directly to israel as gift each year since 1958, much of that money goes to buy weapons, although israel has a formidable arms mfg. industry itself, the practice air attack on iran nuke plants, must overfly turkey ,which incidently also has purchased drone aircraft from israel 25 , the four subs. purchased from germany last year have been fitted with nuke missles and are stationed off coast ready for attack, only problem ? america said no ! SO FAR
Israel should not be lending moral support to the US gov mafia. The US is a family ran (Morgan/Rockefeller) criminal enterprise. The anglo-american gov mafia is a duplicitous enemy of Jews/Israel and has been so for at least one hundred years. Israel would be better off in exposing the thieving yankee petrodollar imperialists for what they are.
I thought Israel also had good relations with Muslim Albania (Mr. Totten, if you’re reading this, can you comment)?
They could conceivably have good relations with Kosovo, but Israel has not recognized them, considering relations with the Serbs to be (correctly) more important.
Wow. Interesting essay, though I had hoped for some more details as to the whys and wherefores of Azerbaijan’s stance. Having worked on a marketing assignment for a development project in Baku (sadly, since shelved) I learned quite a bit about this country, specifically its strategic position and its wealth in oil and natural gas. I also wonder if its geographic position might be a factor in any potential Israeli airstrike.
I have a new found respect for Azerbaijan. If only other nations would follow their lead.
Wow. Hope they’ve got some bomb shelters!
Great and optimistic news. Well done Azerbaijan. May their alliance reap benefits for both for a long time.
Indeed Azerbaijan is a courageous but at the same time smart state which, unlike most other Muslim countries, is not stuck in the past and understands that it is doing the right thing for the next generations to come.
The same has been said about Turkey, and now………
Time will tell.
“Only our neighbors are our enemies.”
Frederik the Great
Kol hakavod Azerbaijan
Genesis 12:3: “And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed.”
Ah, so they’re doing this out of fear? Okay.
I think choosing Israel and being very vocal about it was a pragmatic decision, putting Iran and Russia on notice not to try taking Azerbaijan over. Also, there are a lot of economic benefits to being friends with a technologically forward-looking nation like Israel, not least of which is access to the latest weapons.
You do know that Azerbaijan is a second-generation dictatorship, held by the Aliyev clan, don’t you? And that those who disagree with the Aliyevs tend to end up in sacks by the side of the road?
The current ruler is the weak son of the feared old man–it’s a Kim Il-Sung/Kim Jong-Il scenario. And it’s not pretty.
You’re scraping allies from the bottom of the barrel these days.
Monarchies (“dictatorships” in your terms) can be good or bad. Mostly bad, but there are always a few good kings. The late Hussein of Jordan was a good king, and he found it necessary to “take care of” political enemies, as did good kings David and Solomon of ancient Israel. So while I prefer the American model, and am sad that we are losing it, I have a lot more respect for straight up monarchies than for bureaucratic socialism. The weak son aspect sounds bad, but the other things you mention are not necessarily so. The book of Proverbs is full of warnings about what could happen if you bad mouth the king.
Great. Another American getting his foreign policy from ancient Levantine blitherings. Just what we need.
By the way, the Aliyevs are not “monarchs” or “kings.” I don’t know where you got that from–the Book of Gibberish, no doubt. They’re just a clan, one which happened to be faster on the draw than the other Azeri clans clawing for power and oil money.
Get your head out of that 17th-c. English translation of those schizophrenic nomads’ tales, and face the fact that the Bible is not the property of the Republicans–it just happens to share a certain xenophobic bloodlust with them.
I am not sure there is any real difference between the king of Jordan, king of Saudi Arabia, king… sorry president of Egypt or president of Azerbaijan. They all tend to leave the countries to their heirs and they are all dictators of sorts. The fact that good king is better than bad democracy is indisputable too. The problem with good kings is that they are rare and will always be followed by bad ones, while democracy has a chance of self improvement (as well as self destruction unfortunately). Of course Bible is not a property of Republicans, but mentioning it out of topic is very Democratic way of holding a discussion.
“…the Republicans–it just happens to share a certain xenophobic bloodlust with them.”
Yeah, those warmongering Republicans and their xenophobic bloodlust, getting us into two world wars, Korea and Vietnam, frying a million or so Japanese civilians with napalm and atomic bombs, getting 600,000 Americans killed. Dirty conservative bastards.
Oh…wait…that was the peaceful, liberal Democrats that did all that.
Never mind.
“You’re scraping allies from the bottom of the barrel these days.”
Yeah, kind of like forming an alliance with Stalin…only not nearly as bad.
OK, Shef, you love to demonize Israel but you’re jim dandy with the savage, repressive bloody human rights hellholes that are her enemies, like the rest of the leftist hypocrites.
Azeris are mostly Alevi Muslims, which is a hybrid Shi’a sect that adapts to secular society. The Alevis in Turkey are the most ardent Kemalists and opposition to Erdogan’s Sunni AKP and the Gulen movement.
Iran’s Ayotollahs formally recognize Alevis, and Iran constantly tries to destabilize Azerbaijan, which is still split with Iran. Makes sense for the Azeris to side with Israel since Azerbaijan wants a united Azerbaijan, not to be incorporated into Iran.
Because Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union, emigration of Azeri Jews to Israel was not due to expulsion, but more consistent with Jewish emigration from the rest of the former Soviet Union, which makes it easier for Azeri Israelis to sustain relationships with Azeris. There is evidence that many Azeri Jews are the descendants of “Mountain Jews” of the Caucausus.
Ironic that Israel’s relationship with Azerbaijan makes it very difficult for Israel to have a strong relationship with Armenia.
I knew some men who worked in Israeli embassy in Baku back in 90-th. They are certainly far less enthusiastic than author of this piece. Maybe she have to do some research about “brave muslim nation”. She could ask about Black January in 1990 some prominent figure, like Garry Kasparov. It could be very enlightening. The Aliev’s klan is frightened to be devoured by Russians or mullahs – there is no other explanation of them. Alternative to Aliev is Islamic revolution and Iranian-style dictatorship, but it does not mean that existing regime is “brave” or “good” There is no such a thing in a muslim world, it simply does not exist They have two general form of rule – ” our sons of bitch” like Aliev, Karimov, Mubaraq or Saddam Hussein or theocracy – Brezhnev’s style in Iran or Islamic anarchy like in Afghanistan or Somalia. Israel and the West have no “muslim friends” only allies or satellites, and reality of such a “friedship” is not so rosy, at least for the subjects of those “moderates”. Too bad for California State University
“After all, Israel is despised by not only Iran, but also by European nations like the United Kingdom, Spain, France, and the Netherlands. These countries have lined up against the Jewish state and wish to see her pushed into the sea.”
What a sad comment on the state of World Politics with respect to Israel and The West. How is it that liberal democracies (or socialist nations, if you will) perceive that their best interests align with Islamic Theocracies or Totalitarian Communists? That Russia would back a terrorist country like Iran over Israel is the most disappointing of all. In their zeal to punish the West for their ill conceived support of the Mujaheddin years ago, they align themselves with religious fanatics who would kill all non-Muslim Russians if they were strong enough to do so.
I think the basis for the bowing and scraping to Arab countries is tied to money – oil money.
Israel is sitting on the only land in the Middl East with no oil reserves to speak of.
As western European countries work their way towards energy independence, with solar, wind and nuclear, the stranglehold the Arab world has will loosen and fade. I just hope I live through it.
Azerbaijan is hardly a Muslim state. Instead it is a secular state that guarantees freedom of religion for all. In addition, most of the countries Muslims are non-practicing, as religion was suppressed for years when it was part of the Soviet Union.
However, Iran is trying to reestablish Shi’a Islam in Azerbaijan in order to inject its influence.
“Russia is another longstanding bully, more stealth-like . . . .” There is nothing stealth about the big red bear.
Here is another reason for Azerbaijan to support Israel: The Lord will bless those who bless Israel. see Gen. 12:3 and Num. 24:9.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Enough said.
This article is seriously flawed. You keep stating that Azerbaijan has “spoken up” in favor of Israel and that they “overtly stand next to it in full view” – but other than one statement by one official four years ago, you bring nothing to support this view. This is a puff piece with no serious research attached.
I would love to find friends of Israel wherever they may be, but one must be objective. Of 27 votes on the subject of Israel in the last year in the UN General Assembly, Azerbaijan’s delegation was absent from four, and voted against Israel on every single one of the other 23! These are hardly the actions of a “friend of Israel”.
In fact, here’s a comprehensive list of majority Muslim nations and members of the Arab League whose voting records over the past year have been better than that of Azerbaijan:
-Albania
-Burkina Faso
-Senegal
-Pakistan
-Bangladesh
-Nigeria
-Comoros
-Algeria
-Brunei
-Egypt
-Indonesia
-Kuwait
-Malaysia
-Maldives
-Mauritania
-Sudan
-United Arab Emirates
-Chad
-Somalia
-Sierra Leone
-Turkmenistan
In fact, your comparison of Azerbaijan to “European nations like the United Kingdom, Spain, France, and the Netherlands” only reflects badly on Azerbaijan – all four of these nations voted in Israel’s favor or abstained at least once, and that’s at least once more than Azerbaijan did. The Netherlands comparison is particularly obtuse, as that country ranks #14 in the world in its support of Israel at the UN.
So what exactly does Azerbaijan do to display its friendliness towards Israel?
Daniel@18 – I think you’ve said everything that needs to be said.
The worst part is that so many other comments here praise Azerbaijan so thoroughly for this, taking the article at face value without displaying even the tiniest skeptical eye. Azerbaijan ranks 133 in the world when it comes to support for Israel in the UN – tied for last place with seventy other countries who have a perfect anti-Israel voting recorcd.
Look at it this way: the skeptical people didn’t bother to leave a comment – especially after reading yours. Now ask yourself, does this article have more comments than average or fewer? Maybe all hope is not lost.
Look Daniel,those statistics are important, but I would consider observing a broader historic framework. Small countries are hardly brave with their votes. Even big countries, like India, operated on a similar anti-Israel platform at the UN during the entire Cold War. However, it has the most pro-Israeli public of any country (56 percent). And India’s economic integration with Israel eases Israel’s greatest anxiety- isolation. So Azerbaijan may not be public with its Israeli friend. But I bet you that Azerbaijani oil is coming into Israel, and in return Azerbaijani security forces are being trained by Israeli officers so that the Iranian Mullahs do not successfully infiltrate Azerbaijan.
If Azerbaijan’s government actually does have a pro-Israel bent, then kudos to them – but I’d really, really like to know how this bent is demonstrated. My chief complaint with this article is that it offers not one shred of evidence or data to support its assertion that Azerbaijan is a friend to Israel. This is the loaded question fallacy: the article’s thesis is not “Azerbaijan is a friend of Israel” but rather “Azerbaijan is awesome because it’s a friend of Israel.” I don’t disagree with the article’s proposition if p, then q where p=”Azerbaijan is a friend of Israel” and q=”Azerbaijan is awesome”; rather, I deny that any evidence to support the veracity of p has been presented.
If your assertion that Azerbaijan exports oil to Israel is true, then great. But this doesn’t point to any particular support given to Israel by Azerbaijan; after all, look how wonderful the trade links are between Israel and the EU, and how horribly Israel is treated by its member countries (which doesn’t even come close to how horribly the EU itself treats Israel).
As an aside, I hope my post wasn’t misconstrued as saying that Azerbaijan’s voting record proves that it hates Israel. I’m just bringing up an element of counterevidence – and, given the altogether lack of evidence presented in this article, the scales currently stand at 1 to 0 against Azerbaijan. I’m very open to having my opinion on Azerbaijan reversed if somebody presents me with a reason to do so.
Wow! Israel’s isolation got some relief.
Seems to be a reliable news website without exaggerations – I appreciate this highly.
Good article. I am interested to know why you say Britain hates Israel? I thought the UK was one of Israel’s biggest supporters. Especially in the UN, though I must admit thats not saying much. As well, the BBC can be very bias sometimes but Channel Four did come ot and support the Israeli side of events when they boarded the so called peace boat and killed some turkish terrorists on board who were there under the guise of peaceniks. I do sometimes wonder that the UK may get things done a lot better on the world scene by not putting everyone off side as the US is prone to do sometimes. Maybe this sort of sellective support of Israel is a means to an end (?)
Charlie Coyle
Bravo Azerbaijan! And Turkey. This is a real strategic commitment on part of Azerbaijan. I lived there for a few years on an assignment. Very secular and very modern state. Religious freedom speaks for itself, not only for Jews, but for all including Orthodox Russians, Catholics, Lutherans and Muslims themselves. Too bad it’s in bad neighborhood and pressured by Russia and Iran all the time which it by the way withstands. Azerbaijan is quite the contrary of Armenia which occupies 16% of its territory and has no considerable Jewish population and is a monoethnic state. I respect Azeris and their state doctrine of pro-western policies
Some people keep mentioning about dictatorship or Azerbaijan’s natural resources and relate them to the relations with Israil. I am not saying it is right or wrong. But what is important is tolerance, opennes, and respect that have always existed in Azerbaijan in terms of ethnic and religious make-up of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani Jews, no matter where they live, in Azerbaijan, Israel, or US, have always loved this country and called it their motherland. So, overall, it is Azeris and their attitude to others, not government or resources, that make relations strong.
Israel has better relations with more countries than stated here. Albania and Azer are friends, yes. But so are Eritrea and Ethiopia; Greece too. They have very good clandestine relations with Morocco, Algeria, Malaysia, Indonesia and (openly with) Singapore. They are very well regarded by govts in Australia and most of Europe, especially the East, like Czech and Romania and Poland. Germany is a fast friend. Relations with South America are tough due to Chavez money, but normal nations like Mexico and Central American states are top notch.
India is a solid, solid ally on several fronts.
There are unfriendly govts like Arab League, some Muslim and some African nations (Zim, S Africa), but more African nations are on good terms and use them as counters to Lebanese merchant power (check out the history of West Africa). one of the reasons Africans flock there as refugees is that they hear how bad it is from Arab media and reps and see their own corruption and think, well, if they say it is bad, it must be heaven.
Plus, Israel is popular among populaces in Iran and China even as their govts are not so much in different degrees. and its large immigrant classes (esp Russians) makes for better relations on public level in Russia and several ex USSR. it is a huge vacation destination for wealthy Russian gentiles.
Israel can hold its own. USA is their greatest friend, but the others are nice to have.
Good comment, Barry.
Israel actually has far more supporters than anyone will ever learn.
And then there are those who aid our loyal ally for other reasons.
Over 10,000 Palestinians are on the Israel payroll as informers.
They make it possible for Israel intelligence to know every move that its enemies make.
And to strike when least expected.
Congratulations for the article. In some way the exemplary stand of Azerbaijan is not new in history. In a positive way, reminds me the stand of the Khazarian Empire, that unwilling to accept being bullied by, both Christians (from the west) and Muslims (from the east), decided to become a Jewish State.
Azerbaijan is a friend of Israel and USA (Turkey is not) and for that reason Iran is plotting against Azerbaijan and playing Armenia against Azerbaijan. I speak both Persian and Azeri and very well aware of problems Iran is creating for Azerbaijan. The Irony is that Azerbaijan is far more friendly to Israel and USA than some European countries; namely, Sweden, Norway,….. whose main party politicians (communists, socialists, greens, trade unions and the church) march with Hamas and Hezbollah supporters against Israel and USA. I speak Swedish and quite understand Norwegian. You don’t see antisemitism among Azeri politicians but antisemitism is in abundance among Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish politicians. The Left has totally allied itself with the seventh century barbarians.
Actually Azeris are Turks (in language and perhaps ethnically) and AFAIK Sunni: Iranians cannot expect the Azeris will welcome them with flowers. More worrying is the fact that Azerbaijan’s natural protector (Turkey) is becoming islamist and forgetting Mustafa Kemal’s anti-islam, pro-west and panturkish heritage
You are right and also ethnically. The problem is Turkey will lean on them and the friendship will be gone. I think Turkey through their Islamic government has first consolidated its position inside by eliminating the power of the Turkish Army Force and recently with unjust attacks against the judiciary and now they are meddling in outside with socalled peaceful flotillas to help Gazans and opening up to Iran. So if the Azeris are interested to survive their friendship with Israel if there is any has to go
Outstanding country and very hospitable. Visited Baku twice last year as part of a US-Azeri partnership project. The Azeris are sincere, humble, gracious, future-oriented, principled, and courageous. They are a good friend and ally.
The Kurds (also Muslims) have also expressed their support of Israel. See this article: http://www.jidaily.com/MCcIL
JEWISH