The Hill: Azerbaijan and Israel—genuine Muslim-Jewish relations

Baku, January 4, AZERTAC U.S.-based The Hill newspaper has published an article headlined “Azerbaijan and Israel—genuine Muslim-Jewish relations” by Alexander Murinson, a senior fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center and Bar Ilan University. The article says that Azerbaijan and Israel enjoy close bilateral ties. “These relations are not relegated to arms and oil only. Ties include numerous endeavors, including in the realms of energy, arms, but also in agriculture, technology and perhaps, most importantly, in politics and diplomacy, inter-religious and inter-ethnic relations and on and on,” Murinson says. “There are many positives to highlight regarding Azerbaijan and Israel, not the least of which is that these two nations prove the viability of a Jewish state and a Muslim-majority state serving as true and steadfast allies to one another and that Muslims and Jews can, indeed, coexist. It is not simply a matter of just “getting along,” but thriving with and because of the other.” “The reality is that roughly 800,000 Jews lived in Azerbaijan prior to the fall of the Soviet Union. The Sephardic portion lived in Azerbaijan for the last more than 1500 years—since the Babylonian exile. The other segment of Jews, the Ashkenazi, live mostly in Baku and arrived fleeing Tsarist and Bolshevik pogroms,” the article says. Murinson says: “In terms of Azerbaijan in the United States, the nations maintain a strong and robust strategic partnership, one that promises to be strengthened under the incoming Trump administration.”