{"id":522147,"date":"2026-07-02T19:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T19:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/522147\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T19:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T19:19:08","slug":"israels-armenian-genocide-recognition-a-childish-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/522147\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel&#8217;s Armenian Genocide recognition a &#8216;childish mistake&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Israel&#8217;s decision to recognize the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/diaspora\/article-901092\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Armenian Genocide<\/a> has drawn criticism from Azerbaijan&#8217;s Jewish community as well as Israeli foreign policy experts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Prof. Efraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS) and an expert on Israeli-Turkish relations, described the decision in an interview with Kol Barama Radio on Thursday as &#8220;a childish and petty mistake&#8221; that could carry diplomatic consequences for Israel.<\/p>\n<p>According to Inbar, the decision appears to be an attempt to &#8220;hit the Turks,&#8221; but could instead harm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/international\/article-900776\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Azerbaijan<\/a>, which he described as a &#8220;strategic asset&#8221; and a country that maintains a deep strategic partnership with Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Inbar argued that foreign policy should not be driven by historical revenge but by present-day national interests. If Israel wishes to confront <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/article-901254\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Turkey<\/a>, he said, it should do so &#8220;quietly and wisely,&#8221; rather than through symbolic political gestures that risk alienating moderate actors and undermining strategic partnerships.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">According to sources familiar with the matter, Azerbaijan&#8217;s ambassador to Israel left the country after Foreign Minister Gideon Sa&#8217;ar announced plans to advance recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The reason for his departure has not been officially disclosed, and it has not been officially confirmed whether he was called back to Baku for consultations.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the leaders of Azerbaijan&#8217;s three Jewish communities appealed to members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-901256\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Knesset<\/a> not to support initiatives recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The letter was signed by Milikh Yevdayev, chairman of the Mountain Jewish Community of Baku, Alexander Sharovsky, chairman of the Ashkenazi Jewish Community of Baku, and Rabbi Zamir Isayev, chairman of the Sephardic Jewish Community of Baku.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">In their letter, the community leaders argued that complex historical issues should be examined by historians and experts rather than decided through political resolutions. They warned that such a move could complicate the peace process in the South Caucasus at a sensitive time, as efforts continue to advance a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Rabbi Isayev reiterated that message in an interview with JNews, saying that &#8220;historical issues should not become political decisions.&#8221; He argued that such determinations risk turning historical disputes into diplomatic tools rather than leaving them to professional historical research and academic debate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The criticism from Prof. Inbar and Azerbaijan&#8217;s Jewish community leaders follows Azerbaijan&#8217;s official condemnation of the Israeli government&#8217;s decision. Baku said the move would harm bilateral relations with Israel and called on Jerusalem to reconsider its decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also stopped short of welcoming Israel&#8217;s decision, saying Armenia opposes efforts by third countries to turn the issue of the Armenian Genocide into a political tool against Turkey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel&#8217;s decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide has drawn criticism from Azerbaijan&#8217;s Jewish community as well as Israeli&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[233798,14330,25471,2973,85,46,14406,43,1582],"class_list":["post-522147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-armenian-genocide","tag-azerbaijan","tag-baku","tag-foreign-policy","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-knesset","tag-news","tag-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}