– Mr. Ambassador, how do you assess the current level of Israeli-Azerbaijani relations?
– Israel was among the first countries to recognize the independence of Azerbaijan; I think we were seventh. Since that day, we’ve had 32 years of a very close relationship that has developed into what we can today assess as a strategic partnership between our countries. This partnership has ranged across various areas in line with the development of this country and our relations with it, including energy, security, agriculture, water, and others. Now, we see that this relationship has matured in such a way that, while in the past, relations were mostly government-to-government, today they are people-to-people, business-to-business, and civil society-to-civil society. We see booming tourism, a thriving trade relationship, and, above all, a very close political relationship between our leaders and executive powers. We should also remember that the relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan did not start only 30-some years ago. It began many centuries ago, with one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish diasporas living in this country alongside the rest of the population for at least 800 years, if not longer. Unlike in other parts of the world, Jews in Azerbaijan have lived in harmony and tolerance with the rest of society for centuries. That, I believe, was the solid and healthy basis upon which the relationship I have described was able to thrive and evolve. We look forward to these relations growing and this strategic partnership strengthening further because we share many common interests, values, and cultural characteristics that make our people so close.
– How do you assess the level of cooperation between our countries in the economic sphere? We are talking about both mutual investments and joint projects implemented in the economic sphere.
– Last year’s trade between Israel and Azerbaijan amounted to about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars, including the oil and gas sectors. While that may sound substantial, it’s well below the potential we could achieve in our relationship. We must be honest; until a few years ago, the economic relations between our countries were not very developed for various reasons. However, we’ve seen a breakthrough in recent years. This progress began with the opening of Azerbaijan’s trade office in Israel in 2021, which culminated in the opening of Azerbaijan’s embassy in Israel in 2023. These developments have injected significant energy into our country’s business sector.
I understand Azerbaijan plans to appoint a commercial attaché to its embassy in Israel, and we may consider doing the same here. I believe this is a testament to the importance both countries place on our economic relations. Israeli companies are now recognizing the strategic importance of Azerbaijan, not only as a partner but also as a crossroads between East and West—the Middle Corridor—serving as a gateway to Central Asia, extending eastward to China, westward to Europe, and north to south. Azerbaijan’s ability to maintain balanced, positive relations with nearly every country gives it a unique position as a valuable partner.
Imagine if Azerbaijan were a partner to Israel in the economic sphere, not only for projects within Azerbaijan but also for joint economic ventures outside Azerbaijan. We could use Azerbaijan as a window into the broader potential of what our cooperation can achieve. Currently, our economic engagement with Azerbaijan spans various sectors. In recent years, for instance, Azerbaijan’s space agency Azerkosmos signed an agreement for an Israeli company to build a satellite, and there may be more such collaborations on the horizon. We also see extensive cooperation in agriculture, water management, dairy production, and high-tech. We are confident that our cooperation will continue to grow soon. I won’t deny that, since October 7th, Israel’s economy has been impacted by the ongoing war and the trauma it has caused. This year, the trade trend has not been as positive as we had hoped. However, I believe that as we overcome these challenges and move past the effects of the war, the economic sector—alongside all other sectors in Israel—will return to the momentum we previously enjoyed.
– The state you represent during the 30-year occupation of our lands has always provided political support for the correct position and territorial integrity of our country. This support was especially pronounced in international organizations. Currently, large-scale restoration and construction work is underway in the liberated territories. What can you say about your country’s involvement in these cases?
– Israel has always been clear and vocal in its position regarding the Karabakh region, affirming that it is part of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, both before the 2020 war and certainly afterward. We believe that true friendship is tested in times of need, and I think this friendship between our countries has been proven in those critical times. We have always stood by each other during challenging periods, and we congratulate Azerbaijan on fully liberating the Karabakh territories. I know that many Azerbaijanis were deeply moved and thrilled to celebrate Azerbaijan’s Independence Day and to hold Azerbaijani elections for the first time across the entire sovereign territory in 2024. I would like to congratulate Azerbaijan once again.
Naturally, when you reclaim 20% of your country, you see the extent of the devastation and ruins left behind. I’ve visited, I can confidently say, each of the regions in Karabakh and eastern Zangezur. I’ve been here since 2019, through the war, and was one of the first visitors to Fizuli when it became accessible, traveling to Shusha on the first official visits there, as well as to Zangilan and other areas. These visits are memories I will always hold dear.
Israel has consistently expressed, and I will reiterate, its readiness to support Azerbaijan in restoring the Karabakh territories through economic progress, rehabilitation, and social or economic projects. For instance, in Aghali village in Zangilan, we’ve collaborated in agriculture to supply not only products but also employment for residents returning to the village. Israeli companies are involved in various projects across Agdam, Zangilan, and other regions. Given Israel’s global leadership in water resource management and Karabakh’s ability to provide nearly 30% of Azerbaijan’s water, it is only natural that our cooperation in this sector will continue to expand.
– In recent days, the threat of full-scale war has increased in the Middle East. This means that the work done over the years to resolve the conflict in this region has not yielded results. What do you think the forces interested in further aggravation of the situation in the region want to achieve?
– On October 6, 2023, we had quiet and a ceasefire, and nobody in Israel expected that by the next morning, the whole region would go up in flames. Then, on October 7, 3,000 Hamas terrorists marched into Israel. They broke through the gates and killed, murdered, butchered, raped, and burned people alive in Israeli communities in the south. We lost 1,200 Israelis in a single morning in the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust. As of this very day, we still have 101 hostages held in Gaza. Two of those hostages are brothers; one is just over one year old, and the other is four years old. Can you imagine holding a baby? He was kidnapped when he was eight months old. Can you imagine holding an eight-month-old baby hostage? So that happened on October 7th, and since then, Israel has been at war with very clear objectives: to ensure that the threat of Hamas in Gaza is eliminated, that Hamas no longer rules Gaza, and that our hostages are returned to their families. However, we must not forget that Hamas is not a standalone organization. It is part of a larger picture. Over the past two or three decades, Iran has built an axis of evil led by itself, which includes its proxies around the region. Iran is arming, training, and funding these proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and various militias in Iraq and Syria. What is their goal? Their goal is clear; we shouldn’t be conspiratorial. Just listen to what they say. Their goal is to destroy and eliminate the State of Israel, to wipe it off the map. How do they plan to achieve this? They attempt to do so through three means. First, they surround Israel with what they call the “Ring of Fire,” building proxies around Israel—Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and others in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. This Ring of Fire aims to choke Israel with war. The second method they employ is developing their ballistic missile industry to attack Israel with ballistic missiles, something they have already done twice, in April and again in October, against Israel. The third objective is the development of a nuclear program. Now, consider how much terror and violence Iran is exporting without nuclear weapons. Imagine how much worse it will become when they have the defense and immunity of a nuclear umbrella. Since October 7, Israel has been trying to eliminate this Ring of Fire. We have dealt a severe blow to Hamas as a military force and have diminished Hezbollah’s capabilities in the north. Recently, we have also targeted Iran, leading to a significant setback in their military industry, particularly regarding ballistic missiles and other weaponry. Our Prime Minister has stated several times that we will never allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons because we understand the level of terror that would bring. So, the goals of Israel are very clear: we want to live in peace, and we hate to see a situation where the people of the region are tortured and held captive by Iran and its proxies. The people in Gaza deserve so much better than Hamas. The people in Lebanon deserve so much better than Hezbollah. Yet, Iran does not care. Everywhere it goes, it develops proxies and destroys the countries involved. Show me one place in the world where Iran has intervened and improved the situation. Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Gaza, Iraq—all those places have become failed states where people suffer in poverty, all for the sake of Iran building a chain of proxies to defend itself. It sacrifices the people in Gaza, the people in Lebanon, and the people of the entire Middle East so that it can be immune and continue developing its programs, aiming for total hegemony in the Middle East, starting with the elimination of Israel.
– According to observers, the consistent killing of Hezbollah leaders has made the processes in the region even more hopeless. Has the Middle East region run out of bargaining power? Because several mediators, including Egypt, have repeatedly provided platforms for the parties to discuss, to no avail.
– I would say that the elimination of the leadership of Hezbollah, including the first, second, and third levels of their military leadership, has made the region much more hopeful, not hopeless. The reason is very simple: a Middle East and a Lebanon without Hezbollah is a safer and better place for everyone. It’s not just Israel saying this; we hear the people in Lebanon rejoicing when they see their country has the hope to break the shackles of this Iranian proxy that has viciously controlled the country for decades.
If you remember the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, a UN investigation found that Hezbollah was behind it. Hezbollah has been stealing money from the country and preventing a president from being elected in Lebanon for the past three years. Hezbollah is holding the entire nation of Lebanon hostage to serve its interests in attacking Israel. Why should a sovereign nation have a militia, an armed group, and a second military within it—one that is even stronger than the Lebanese army itself? Every sovereign nation has one gun and one army. Azerbaijan has the Azerbaijani army, Israel has the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), and Lebanon has the Lebanese Armed Forces. But Hezbollah maintains its weapons and guns, terrorizing the entire country to achieve its goals.
What we are doing is good for Israel because our objectives have been simple. Unfortunately, people forget too easily that Hezbollah attacked Israel on October 8, a day after October 7. We did not want a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, but they attacked us on October 8. For 11 months, we have been waiting for the international community to find a solution that would push Hezbollah away. For more than 12 months now, 80,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes in the north, fearing attacks from Hezbollah. Up to this day, 80,000 people, families with children, cannot return to their homes because they are attacked and bombarded with shells. Unfortunately, the international community has failed again, so we had to do the job ourselves. We had to go and fight Hezbollah on Lebanese territory to ensure that our citizens—our declared goal—could return safely to their homes and that the threat of Hezbollah from the north was eliminated. I hope for the people of Lebanon, for their own future sake and the future of their children, that this will be an opportunity for them to completely remove the military force of Hezbollah and establish one Lebanese nation with one army, free from the tyranny and bullying of an armed force like Hezbollah.
– Against the background of tension in the region, the territories of your country are subjected to intense missile strikes from Lebanon. Is it possible to assume that Lebanon is one of the parties to this war?
– We are at war with Hezbollah. We are not at war with the state or the people of Lebanon. The people of Lebanon are victims of Hezbollah as much as we are victims of their rockets. So, as a country, we expect Lebanon to exercise its sovereignty, stop these attacks, and reach a viable solution that can provide the fullest security to the state of Israel. But we are very careful, and if you follow closely the targets that Israel chooses in this war, they are specifically Hezbollah targets, not Lebanon, not the Lebanese army, and not the Lebanese infrastructure, because we want to allow them to have resources so that they can overtake Hezbollah and retake their country, not to be held hostage by this terrorist organization that has taken over the country. So, we see Lebanon as a future partner, and more so, we see it as a peace partner in the future. There’s no reason why Israel and Lebanon cannot have peace, like Israel and Egypt, Israel and Jordan, Israel and the Emirates, Israel and Morocco, and other countries like Bahrain. Lebanon is our neighbor. We share so much: we share the same beach, the same coast, the same food, and the same culture—there is so much that we have in common. We are both multicultural countries with different ethnicities and traditions. Historically, in the Kingdom of Judea during biblical times, the people of Tyre in Lebanon today, the Phoenicians, always had good connections and trade. Why can’t that be the case today? So, I believe that at the end of the day, when Lebanon is freed from Hezbollah, when Lebanon is freed from the claws of Iran, then the next day we will have peace. I listen to Lebanese TV; I listen to Lebanese media. They talk about the need for peace and normalization in a way that they have not before. Now they express this because they are less afraid of Hezbollah, as Hezbollah has suffered a severe blow. So, I pray that immediately after this war, we will not only have a ceasefire—that’s not my interest. My interest is to have peace. My interest is to go and visit Beirut, and for the Lebanese people to come and visit Tel Aviv.
– Obviously, when tensions arise at some point in the world, some states call on the parties to a ceasefire and dialogue. In your opinion, is it possible in this case to return to the negotiation option in both the Israeli-Palestinian and Lebanese-Israeli conflicts?
– Absolutely. First of all, we appreciate the role being played by the moderators and mediators, namely Egypt and, of course, the United States. I think they play a very important role in facilitating all kinds of negotiations as we speak. There’s no room for negotiations with Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Their charter speaks about the elimination of Israel as the reason they exist. There’s no other reason for Hamas to exist other than the annihilation of the State of Israel and the imposition of Sharia law and Islamic tyranny on the region. So they are not a peaceful partner. However, I think we should look towards the day after, a day in which Israel and peaceful partners in the Palestinian territories will emerge to reach a peaceful settlement of this conflict that ensures the rights of the Palestinians while also ensuring the security of the State of Israel. Peace must be based on the full recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and on the understanding that Israel is here to stay. Israel is not a colonial project; it is a native, permanent entity in this part of the world. Making peace will involve full normalization and good relations between countries. With the people of Lebanon, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: peace should be easy. We have no conflict, no territorial disputes, nothing. They are our neighbors, and we have no issues with Lebanon, so it should be easy to have peace. But I think we have seen before that when Egypt wanted peace with Israel, we achieved peace. When Jordan wanted peace with Israel, we had peace. When the Abrahamic countries—the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan—sought peace with Israel, we achieved peace. When our other neighbors want peace, I guarantee you that the day the Islamic regime in Iran falls and loses its terrorizing effect on all the countries in the region, we will have peace with every single country in the region. There’s no reason why we cannot have peace with Saudi Arabia, which I believe is going to happen sooner rather than later, and we will also have peace with Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, the Palestinians, and others.
– You know that in November Baku will host the 29th session (COP29) of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Agreement on Climate Change. At what level will the Israeli side be represented at the conference?
– First of all, I want to congratulate Azerbaijan for hosting COP29. It’s a spectacular achievement for this country to be the host of such an important global event. I am confident that Azerbaijan can pull off a fantastic event. Israel, of course, attaches great importance not just to its relations with Azerbaijan but also to the issue of climate and preserving our planet. We have a responsibility to the next generation, for my children, and for those who come after them, to leave them a better, safer, and cleaner world. So Israel takes this very seriously, and we contribute immensely to those efforts with our clean energy technologies in water, agriculture, and energy itself—clean and renewable energy. This is very important to Israel. At COP29 in Baku, we will be represented at the highest level by the President of Israel, Herzog. It will be his second visit to Baku in two years, which is also a tremendous achievement at the bilateral level. In addition to him, we’re going to have at least three more ministers visiting who will come and lead their agendas, including the Minister of Environmental Protection, or as you call it here, Ecology or Environment. We look forward to having a very busy and productive agenda throughout the visit, and hopefully, it will lead to a better world afterward.
