Nadene Goldfoot
Armenia is located in Western Asia and lies east of the Caspian sea. Jews moved there as early as the period of the destruction of the 1st Temple in 597 BCE. Ties existed between Jews in Armenia and Judaea during 2nd Temple days before 70 CE when the Romans were on the scene.
One of Herod's grandsons, Aristobulus, was made king of Little Armenia by Nero. Two other grandsons ruled Greater Armenia.
Many Jews moved there in succeeding generations. Then from the 4th generation onwards, their population started to dwindle due to exile and emigration. Medieval travelers found a number of small Jewish communities at Nisibis and other places.
Armenian Christians have lived in Jerusalem since the 5th century as there is an Armenian quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Armenian Genocide (sometimes known as the Armenian Holocaust) was the systematic mass murder and expulsion of 1.5 million ethnic Armenians carried out in Turkey and adjoining regions by the Ottoman government between 1914 and 1923. It should have ended in 1917. The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested, and deported from Constantinople (now Istanbul) to the region of Angora (Ankara), 235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders, the majority of whom were eventually murdered.
Under Muslim rule, Christians and Jews were considered Dhimmis, or 2nd-3rd class citizens. They weren't allowed to do things a citizen could do and had to pay more in taxes, expectations, etc. "In addition to other legal limitations, Christians were not considered equals to Muslims and several prohibitions were placed on them. Testimony against Muslims by Christians and Jews was inadmissible in courts of law wherein a Muslim could be punished; this meant that their testimony could only be considered in commercial cases. They were forbidden to carry weapons or ride atop horses and camels. Their houses could not overlook those of Muslims; and their religious practices were severely circumscribed, e.g., the ringing of church bells was strictly forbidden."
Armenia–Israel relations are the bilateral relationship between Armenia and Israel. From 1993 to 2007, Armenia was served by the Embassy of Israel in Georgia. In 1996, Tsolak Momjian was appointed the honorary consul of Armenia in Jerusalem. Eleven years later, the residence of the Embassy of Israel in Armenia was moved to Jerusalem. In October 2010, Shmuel Meirom was appointed the Israeli ambassador to Armenia. Armen Melkonian was appointed the Armenian ambassador to Israel in 2012, with a residence in Cairo. In October of that year, Melkonian presented his credentials to Israeli President Shimon Peres. On the 21st of September 2019 Armenia announced that it would be opening an embassy in Israel.
Armenian-Israelis are ethnic Armenians with Israeli citizenship. Three thousand Armenians live in Israel, including 1,000 in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter. About one thousand Armenian-Israelis have Israeli citizenship, mainly in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. The Institute of African and Asian Studies at the Hebrew University established an Armenian-studies programme specialising in study of the Armenian language, literature, history and culture and the Armenian Genocide.
Notice that the brown and red section below is land fought over between Armenia and Azerbaijan- Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Today Israel is in the middle of a big disagreement again between Armenians and
those from Azerbaijan.The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, and the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, supported by Armenia, in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. It is the latest escalation of the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict over the territory, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but mostly governed by Artsakh, a breakaway state with an Armenian ethnic majority.
Israel is believed to be Azerbaijan’s largest weapons supplier, with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimating that arms deals between the two countries over the past five years have totaled more than $740 million. Israel is estimated to import about one-fifth of its oil from Azerbaijan. It rarely comments on its arms sales to anyone.
“My father’s family are all there [in the Armenian capital of Yerevan]. We speak daily. The situation is extremely difficult for them,”David Galfayan, head of the Noyan Tapan Armenian Center for Culture and Education in Israel, told The Media Line.
Says Galfayan: “We’re extremely angry with the Israeli government for selling weapons to Azerbaijan. It’s not only detrimental to the Armenian people, but to the Israeli people as well.”He notes that the sales could boomerang.
QUOTE: “There are many terrorists that Turkey has imported from Syria to fight in Azerbaijan. All those weapons we’re supplying them, tomorrow will reach our borders and be turned against us,” he complained, referring to pro-Turkey Syrian rebels who have been idled due to a cease-fire in that country’s civil war.
The heavy fighting between forces from Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh continued on Wednesday as the flare-up over the disputed Azeri region entered its 11th day.
Azerbaijan is now divided between their own republic and Iran. Jews had also lived here, and lived well even under the Mongols of the 13th century but then they embraced Islam, most Jews apostatized. By 1926, 19,000 European Jews were in Azerbaijan, largely at Baku, and 7,500 "mountain Jews" speaking a Persian dialect. In 1979, there were some 35,497 Jews in Azerbaijan. By 2009 there were from 7,800 to 16,000 Jews here.
Armenia is a Christian country and Azerbaijan is the 26th largest out of 48 Muslim countries with 8,676,000 population in 2011 of which 93.4% are Shi'a Muslim. They do not share a border but are close to each other and are fighting. What does the EU expect would happen to Israel with a Palestine in their back yard?
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia%E2%80%93Israel_relations
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/armenians-in-israel-seethe-over-arms-sold-to-azeri-enemy-644997
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan%E2%80%93Israel_relations
https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/AZ
https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/azerbaijan-population
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Nagorno-Karabakh_conflict
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