Ha’aretz, Israel
Oct 26 2014
Israel must not sell arms to the Azeris
The sale of weapons to a government committing genocide is like the
sale of weapons to Nazi Germany during World War II.
By Yair Auron
In light of the increased manifestations of hatred in Azerbaijan
against the Armenians, Azerbaijan’s increasing military strength and
the rise in internal tensions there, it is feared that if war breaks
out again between Azerbaijan and the Armenians in the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, there will be massacres against the Armenian
population in that contested region.
And yet, despite the handwriting on the wall, last month Defense
Minister Moshe Ya’alon flew to Azerbaijan to meet with the heads of
its military and state, including the president.
As far as the Armenians are concerned, the conflict with the Azeris is
a fight for survival, a fight for their right to live in the
Nagorno-Karabakh region. Next year will mark 100 years since the
genocide against the Armenian people. An Azeri assault, if one takes
place, could be a sorrowful reminder of the events of those days.
But perhaps it is not too late to prevent escalation. Israel has a
moral obligation in this matter, beyond its international obligations.
It would be very serious if it turned out that Azerbaijan’s security
forces committed war crimes and crimes against humanity using Israeli
weapons.
During my visit to Armenia last May, to receive a prize from the
Armenian president, I was told about the tension in Nagorno-Karabakh,
which is mostly populated by Armenians (as a result of the imperialist
policies of the Soviet Union).
This tension is the result of the six-year war in the region between
the Armenian inhabitants and Azerbaijan, during which some 30,000
people were killed and hundreds of thousands were forced to leave
their homes.
The Armenians, who were fighting for their homes, were able to
overcome the Azeri army, which was much stronger than they were, and
were able to maintain control of the region. In 1994, a fragile,
Russian-brokered cease-fire was arranged.
However, 20 years later, international efforts to urge the Armenians
and Azeris to an agreed-on solution have been unsuccessful. On my
visit to Armenia, I heard the Armenian complaints about escalation in
the region and about war crimes committed by Azerbaijan.
I was also told about breaches of the cease-fire agreement by
Azerbaijan just recently, and about Israel’s involvement in the
conflict. It seems that the Azeris are trying to goad the Armenians
into responding to breaches of the agreement, so the Azeris will have
an ostensible reason to take over the enclave.
In early August, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev visited the front
and told the soldiers, “We have weapons we have purchased from foreign
sources, which meet the highest standards in the world.”
Russia and many other countries, among them the United States and
France, have condemned the escalation, and said that the only solution
to the conflict is diplomatic.
With the outbreak of the war, in 1992, the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe asked its member states to ban export of
weapons to those involved in the conflict in Ngorno-Karabakh. Britain
and Germany prohibit the export of weapons to Azerbaijan and, as far
as we know, the United States does not permit the export of weapons to
that country over concerns that it could be used against Armenia.
According to reports in the foreign press, in recent years Israel is
one of the leading exporters of weapons to Azerbaijan – if not the
primary one.
Together with Russia, Israel is openly ignoring the weapons embargo.
In February 2012, foreign media outlets and Haaretz reported that
Israel signed an agreement to supply $1.6 billion-worth of weapons to
Azerbaijan. At least two Israeli drones have fallen in
Ngorno-Karabakh, the latest one this past August.
This is not the first time Israel has supplied weapons to a country
that is committing genocide. Israel sold weapons to the Serbs during
the Balkan war in the early 1990s, during which time the United
Nations had imposed an embargo.
The sale of weapons to a government committing genocide is like the
sale of weapons to Nazi Germany during World War II.
Israel must refrain from such acts also because we are a people of
Holocaust survivors. A tragic crime and humanitarian disaster could
take place in the centennial year of the Armenian genocide, which
continues to go unrecognized by most countries.
In mid-August, attorney Eitay Mack and I submitted an urgent request
to Dubi Lavi, the head of the department in the Defense Ministry that
monitors weapons exports, to stop Israel’s weapons sales to
Azerbaijan. We demanded that he use his authority to revoke or delay
permits that the Defense Ministry has given for such sales, at least
until the end of the current escalation.
We received an answer that hardly heralds change: “We have closely
examined the statements in your letter. Security export is carefully
examined … considerations of human rights and conflict zones worldwide
are seriously weighed.”
The writer and Eitay Mack are working to make public the sales of
Israeli weapons to countries who commit war crimes and crimes against
humanity.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.622701