Azerbaijan Chief Rabbi Urges Knesset Not To Advance Armenian Genocide Recognition

Rabbi Shneur Segal, chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi Jewish community in Azerbaijan, urged Israeli lawmakers not to advance Knesset recognition of the Armenian Genocide, warning that the move could affect the local Jewish community.

“I am writing to you on behalf of the Jews of the city and the Jewish community, with a sincere request that you hear our voice and take it into consideration before advancing in the Knesset the recognition of what is referred to as the ‘Armenian Genocide,’” Segal wrote Monday in a letter to Likud MK Ofir Katz, the coalition chairman.

The letter came after Israel’s cabinet unanimously approved Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s proposal to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide. The decision still needs to be brought before the Knesset for a vote.

Segal wrote that Azerbaijan’s Jewish community is an inseparable part of Azerbaijani society and has enjoyed security, respect and full religious freedom for generations. He said many members of the community also have relatives in Israel, which is why he felt compelled to appeal directly to Israeli lawmakers.

“At a time when Jews in many countries around the world are afraid to walk openly with visible Jewish symbols, here we are able to walk through the streets of Baku wearing a kippah, safely and without fear,” he wrote. “This reality demonstrates more than anything the depth of friendship and respect that the Azerbaijani people have for the Jewish people.”

Segal said the Armenian Genocide issue is highly sensitive for Azerbaijanis. He stressed that the Jewish community is not asking Israel to decide historical disputes, but to consider the effect of the decision on people who view themselves as close friends of Israel.

“We do not seek to decide historical disputes, nor do we enter into questions that are left to the research of historians,” he wrote. “However, we know very well how sensitive this issue is for the Azerbaijani people, and how much the decision taken in Israel has hurt people who see themselves as true friends of Israel and of the Jewish people.”

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the Israeli cabinet decision, calling it a matter of “serious concern.” The ministry said the decision distorted the historical facts surrounding the events of 1915 and called on Israel to reconsider.

Sa’ar defended the move as a moral and historical duty. After the cabinet vote, he said, “It is never too late to do the right thing.”

The issue also carries wider regional sensitivity. Turkey, Azerbaijan’s close ally, rejects the description of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Azerbaijan and Armenia have also fought for decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory but historically inhabited mainly by Armenians.

Segal ended his letter by asking Israeli lawmakers to listen to Azerbaijan’s Jewish community before moving forward.

“We ask you, as members of the Knesset and as leaders of the public in Israel, to also listen to the voice of the Jewish community in Azerbaijan, and to do everything in your power not to advance recognition of this decision in the Knesset,” he wrote.