On November 16, 2023, the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy hosted a webinar titled “Israel and Azerbaijan against Iranian backed religious terrorism,” which was organized by Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a prominent Middle East scholar who sits on the board of the center. He organized it with the assistance of the organization’s CEO, Rachel Avraham. The event was moderated by Raphael Nabizade, an Azerbaijani activist who sits on the organization’s audit committee.
Tarlan Ahmadov, the President and Founder of the Azerbaijani Society of Maine, was the first speaker and he discussed how Iran threatens both Azerbaijan and Israel. He started out his talk by discussing the history of Azerbaijanis inside of modern Iran: “In 1499, the Safavid Empire was established and Azerbaijan was part of the Safavid Kingdom. The Safavid’s were replaced by the Qajars, who ruled for close to two hundred years. The kings of that time had to be a prince of Tabriz, which is the cultural capital city of South Azerbaijan. Then, there was a war and today’s Azerbaijan became a part of the Russian Empire, while the rest of Azerbaijan became what it is now. So, Eastern and Western Azerbaijan are part of today’s Iran. The Qajar Dynasty ceased in the 1920’s and the new Pahlavi dynasty took over. It is then that the Personification and oppression of all of the minorities began, although the Azerbaijani one is the largest one.”
According to him, “35 million plus people have been pushed to give up their identity and the significance of their culture and everything connected to Azerbaijanis is always diminished. The same thing happened under the Islamic Republic of Iran. The discrimination became a governmental policy. This Iranian policy which we have seen over the last 40 plus years is not only about controlling their own country but building their own power. This threat has become huge over the last 20 years. We see the fights Iran has in Iraq and Syria. Iran has become powerful regionally. Having this specific terrorism turns to Israel, Azerbaijan and becomes a threat to the regional security.”
“Iran supports Armenia in its territorial claims against Azerbaijan,” Ahmadov noted. “They gave money, weapons, resources and influence to support their occupation. They accuse Azerbaijan of being pro-Israeli and building up the relationship. Under the presidency of Heydar Aliyev and Ilham Aliyev, the relationship has only been growing and it makes Iran very concerned. In 2020, we liberated Karabakh and Iran was openly pro-Armenian, and opened up routes for separatists. Iran threatens the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and our independence. Azerbaijan has been strong in resisting this. Azerbaijan opened up an embassy in Israel. That relationship became stronger than before. The terrorism in Iran supported by the government has become blunt.”
According to him, “Our embassy was attacked in Tehran and we closed our embassy there. There was an assassination attempt of a member of parliament and there was a huge Iranian spy network in Azerbaijan, which threatens us and Israel. They also tried to target the Israeli Embassy in Baku. We are in the same boat as Israel. Being together in this is very important for standing against this governmental terror and the nuclear threat, which harms all of the neighbors. We are working very hard with the Jewish community after what happened on October 7. It shocked all of us, but we know all of the proxies of Iran were ready for this for many years. This is a big regional threat and challenge. We will all work together to overcome this challenge.”
The next speaker was Dr. Mordechai Kedar, who discussed the sexual violence Hamas, a proxy of Iran, committed against Israeli women and girls. He proclaimed: “Sexual violence is not unique to what happened in the Middle East. First World War, Second World War, saw the same things in Europe. Japan was trafficking Chinese women as part of the war against China. The Russians were doing this in Africa. There was Rwanda, Darfur and many other sexual crimes against the people who were defeated is a well-known practice in many parts of the world. It is almost a global phenomenon.”
“However, in Iran, it became like an art,” he added. “We remember the 2009 demonstrations, when students ran out on the streets to protest Ahmadinejad. The boys were shot in order to maim and cripple them, while the girls were raped. Not even one of them remained virgin. In Iran, a girl is not supposed to be touched before the wedding, but all of the girls were raped and people could do nothing for it was done by the government. Even since then, girls were afraid of demonstrating for they knew what their punishment would be. We saw violence against girls for not wearing the chador. The violence against women became systematic in Iran in order to maim and kill them. You see the same with the Iranian supported regime in Syria. The Assad regime systematically since the Arab Spring deliberately aims at humiliating girls and women by raping them. The soldiers are doing it willingly to enjoy the goodies of heaven in this world and they are supported by the Iranian regime.”
According to him, “Now, what happened with Hamas was also supported by Iran. They raped in order to humiliate others and to prove to others that they are the superior and are above everything. They do not care about the international law. They do not care about human rights. They do not care about women’s rights. They consider themselves superior and all others inferior. The Houthis also do the same thing in Yemen. And you see the same thing in Iraq. Girls and women are raped by the Iranian militias, who actually turned it into an art. This is devastating for virginity is important in the Middle East. The Iranians seek to break their soul and to target the most sensitive nerve in the Middle Eastern culture, which is the virginity. In Iran, I heard they do the same to the Baloch and Kurds. The Persians see themselves as sitting on top of the world and they allow themselves to do whatever they like.”
He declared, “These things should be exposed, but people do not talk about this. They talk about the persecution of Azerbaijanis, Baloch, Kurds, etc., but people refrain from talking about sexual crimes for it is not politically correct. I think it is wrong. Look at the wave of Me Too. It showed how women were abused and humiliated and targeted for sexual abuse. I think the time has come to expose the Iranian mindset and it should be out there, for if there is something that might bring damage to the Iranian image is this. If this is exposed, it could make a change. Even those who support intersectionality would not dare say anything positive about sexual offenses. This is why we can use it against Iran and expose it for it can bring a change in the world attitude towards Iran.”
Esther Ha-Levi, a prominent Azerbaijani Jewish activist in Canada, was the next speaker and she proclaimed: “I always see the correlation between what happens in Azerbaijan and Israel. Since October 7, I have gotten incredible support from Azerbaijanis. The Iranian government needs to be completely destroyed. We got to show the world that Armenian propaganda is very similar to Palestinian. We saw it during the war. People are saying “death to Jews’ on the streets of Toronto. The Jewish students are scared to go to school. This would never happen in Azerbaijan. 1400 people were massacred just for being Jewish, yet people are talking about a Gaza genocide. The same story with the Armenians.”
Manel Msalmi, an international affairs advisor to the European Parliament, spoke next and proclaimed: “Iran is one of the key destabilizing actors in the Middle East and in Europe. Look at the Ukraine. A lot of arms were sent to Iran to make bombardments in the Ukraine. It created a refugee crisis. They also make a threat to Israel. We have the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza, etc. Making atomic bombs threaten the security of Europe. We witness the policy of Iran towards minorities like Mahsa Amini and other Balochi, Kurdish, and Azerbaijani dissidents, who were executed in Iran. What is the answer to these human rights violations? The answer is to support the democratic groups among the opposition especially the Azerbaijani and other non-Persian populations. These populations make up more than 70 percent of Iran. The Azerbaijanis are the largest ones. There were many protests in the Azerbaijani region demanding democracy and political rights. Azerbaijanis, Baloch, Ahwazis and Kurds are denied equal rights and the right to learn their own language. They are a population which are represented as a minority by the regime, but they are not.”
According to the her, “The Islamic Republic of Iran always treated them as second class citizens. They suffered from trauma for years. They have human rights organizations, media outlets, and organized demonstrations in Brussels, Germany and other areas of Europe. Europe should support these voices and support gender equality for the movement for Women, Life and Freedom and the death of Mahsa Amini shows the regime hates not only non-Persians but women coming from different backgrounds. Any cultural activists are arrested and persecuted. The international community should support this movement and fight against the militias in Yemen, Lebanon, Gaza and everywhere. Political dissidents are not safe in Europe. They are kidnapped, targeted and sometimes killed. We witnessed so many cases where political dissidents were targeted and killed. We should stop this ethnic cleansing of non-Persian populations in Iran and give them equal rights and political representation, and say no to forced hijab and yes to women, life and freedom.”
Former Israel Consul General Dr. Yitzhak Ben Gad referred to the Hamas terrorists who committed the October 7 massacre as “fanatics that no one wants. We have peace with Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Sudan, and Bahrain. But, none of them would be willing to accept these people. They are packed in there in Gaza like sardines and looked what they did to us. Hundreds of millions went to Gaza. The Hamas instead of using this money to build homes and factories built tunnels to fight Israel. We saw the results on October 7. What happened here with this fanatic people? The policy of Israel now is to destroy the Hamas and release the hostages. Whoever fights us must pay a high price. Look at what they are doing, holding women, children and even infants. I would not even compare them to wild animals, for animals only attack when they are hungry. These people are killing Jews just for being Jews. People are now opening up their eyes.”
Rachel Avraham, the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy, discussed the many parallels between what happened on October 7 and the Khojaly Genocide. She noted that there are many who deny what happened in Khojaly, just as people are beginning to deny what happened on October 7. She noted in her talk, “Azerbaijanis have demonstrated much support for Israel during our war against Hamas, as they themselves remember what the Armenians did to them during Khojaly and have much sympathy. This is why the famous Flame Towers in Baku lit up in the color of the Israeli flag and the Israeli Embassy in Baku was flooded with teddy bears, flowers, and candles by Azerbaijani people who mourned with Israel on October 7. Azerbaijani MP Rasim Musabeyli told the Voice of America: “We strongly condemn the attacks that have resulted in the deaths and injuries of a large number of civilians. In these difficult times, we stand with Israel.” The Working Group for Azerbaijan-Israel Interparliamentary Relations issued a statement saying: “We condemn unequivocally and in the strongest terms the wide-scale attacks against Israel from the Gaza Strip, accompanied by indiscriminate rocket strikes targeting civilian infrastructure objects, population centers, and civilians.” They added: “We stand firmly with Israel in these hard times.” Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani government continues to supply Israel with 40 percent of its oil needs at a time when oil could not be more critical and even sent over some ambulances to help the Jewish state.”
“While the Azerbaijani people have demonstrated their support for Israel during her hour of need, the Armenians have not,” she stressed. “In fact, the Palestinians and Armenians have a long history of cooperating with one another. As Michael Gunter noted about the Armenian terror organization ASALA, which targeted Turkish diplomats in the 1970’s and 1980’s: “A Spanish journalist Jose Antanio Gurriarian who came to know the terrorists after being maimed by one of their bombs wrote that Hagop Hapopian, the leader of ASALA, was a 24-year-old of Lebanese descent in 1973. Black September chief Abu Iyad had helped him form ASALA in 1975. Soon after joining the Palestinians, Hagopian found himself within the ranks of Wadi Haddad’s splinter PFLP which was George Habbash’s faction in the PLO. It was during his activity with Wadi Haddad that he gained most of his experience, developed many personnel friendships with Palestinian leaders and began to mimic the organizational and military tactics of Wadi Haddad, which intentionally caused innocent victims harm and thus served to discredit the Palestinian cause as terrorist.””
According to her, “More recently, Armenian Radio referred to the Hamas terrorists as “militants” while the Armenian Weekly engaged in even more anti-Israel rhetoric. According to the Armenian Weekly article titled ‘How the military escalation in Gaza could impact the South Caucuses’, “On October 7, 2023, Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas launched operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” aiming to destroy the Israeli army positions near Gaza and capture as many soldiers as possible, in order to exchange them with the almost 7,000 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. The operation created a shockwave in Israeli society, killing more than 1,000 soldiers and civilians. As a result, Israelis started indiscriminately bombing Gaza, killing civilians and threatening ethnic cleansing through a land invasion. The danger that the escalation will turn into a regional conflict involving Iran and Hezbollah is high. Such a step would surely have devastating consequences for the region and a domino effect beyond the Middle East.””
She proclaimed: “Another article in the Armenian Weekly titled ‘Why is the US government so vigilant about Israel but not Armenia’ even explains why the Armenians lack so much sympathy for the innocent victims of Southern Israel who were massacred, mutilated, raped and tortured in the cruelest and most barbaric manners possible: “Understandably, most Armenians are furious at the Israeli government for permitting its arms manufacturers to provide 60-percent of Azerbaijan’s advanced weapons.” However, they are not able to rise above their resentment of the Israeli government and to demonstrate sympathy for the innocent civilians of Israel, who suffered the worst massacre in their nation’s history. For this reason, as an Israeli, I do everything to support Azerbaijan, because they do everything to support us while the Armenians clearly do not.”
Raphael Nabizade, a prominent Azerbaijani activist who sits on the audit committee of the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy, stated that there is a stark difference between Azerbaijan and Iran, even though both countries are majority Shia: “Iran seeks to wipe Israel off the map and treats Iranian Jews as second class citizens. This is a far cry from Azerbaijani reality. Unlike in America and Europe, synagogues in Azerbaijan have no security. Their doors remain unlocked even at night. There is no reason to fear thieves, let alone anti-Semitic bigots. Jews in Azerbaijan can wear kippas and Star of David necklaces without living in fear. Jews who fear Shias should remember a secular Shia Muslim country, which is a trusted friend of Israel.”
He added that Israel and Azerbaijan have many reasons to cooperate related to the Iranian threat: “First, our embassy in London was stormed by a radical religious group. Around 10 people were arrested. Then, our embassy was attacked by an armed man on International Holocaust Memorial. The head of security at our embassy in Tehran was killed and two others were injured. And then the Israeli Embassy in Baku was targeted following the visit of the Israeli Defense Minister to Baku. This is what the Iranians sought to target. Fortunately, it was thwarted in time. This underlines the importance of strong security cooperation. We are proud that Azerbaijan is an ally of Israel.”
