Azerbaijan rabbi to Armenian Jews: 'Leave before it's too late'

Rabbi Zamir Isayev, a prominent figure in the Jewish community of Azerbaijan, issued an immediate and dire warning on Thursday amidst the escalating war between Azerbaijan and Armenia: “I repeat my call to the Jews in Armenia: Leave, and if you need help, I’ll take care of it. Leave before it’s too late...”

A few weeks ago I warned that staying in Armenia is dangerous for Jews. Israel's Minisry of Diaspora raised the possibility of violence against Jews twice during last month. The reason is Israel's close relations with Azerbaijan, and also the fact that we, rabbis, oppose the… pic.twitter.com/8P46yHSIsa

— Rabbi Zamir Isayev (@RabbiZamir) October 5, 2023

Isayev’s plea, via a video and tweet on X, resonates with urgency and fear, a sentiment that has been building over the past few weeks. As the director of the Baku Jewish school and of the Georgian-Sephardic Jewish community in Azerbaijan, Isayev urged Armenian Jews to leave their country, in order for them to stay safe.

In the tweet, Isayev added: “A few weeks ago I warned that staying in Armenia is dangerous for Jews. Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry raised the possibility of violence against Jews twice during the last month. The reason is Israel’s close relations with Azerbaijan, and also the fact that we, rabbis, oppose the usage of the Holocaust topic for propaganda purposes.”

The rabbi’s warnings materialized tragically when he revealed: “Unfortunately, in the middle of the Sukkot holiday there [was] an attack on the synagogue in Yerevan. But this was expected. Hate speech provokes violence and intolerance. Desecration of a synagogue anywhere in the world is a serious crime. We reject with disgust any threat to damage the holy places of the people of Israel.”

As mentioned, earlier this week, the World Jewish Center in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, was vandalized in an act thought to be directly related to Israel’s growing relations with neighboring adversary Azerbaijan.

According to the estimates of the local Jewish community and the World Jewish Congress, Armenia is home to around 500-1000 Jews, mostly of Ashkenazi origin with some Mizrahi and Georgian Jews, localized in the capital, Yerevan.

Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders invited for talks

The European Union on Thursday invited the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan for talks to try to revive a peace process thrown into crisis by an Azerbaijani military operation that prompted more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee Nagorno-Karabakh.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, said he had invited Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to meet in Brussels by the end of October.

“We believe in diplomacy. We believe in political dialog,” Michel told reporters as he announced the meeting at a summit of the European Political Community in the Spanish city of Granada, a forum of more than 40 countries.

Aliyev snubbed a proposed meeting with Pashinyan, Michel and the leaders of France and Germany at the summit.

But Michel said he expected both sides to attend the Brussels talks, noting Baku had said it would take part in future EU-mediated meetings.

At the summit, leaders also pledged support for Armenia as it grapples with the fallout of the Azerbaijani military operation last month to seize control of the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.Reuters contributed to this report