Thank God, and what a disgrace: Yakov Kedmi on Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide

Yakov Kedmi, former head of Israel’s Nativ intelligence agency, commented to Alpha News on Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the US-Iran agreement and Israel’s attitude toward it, and the visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.

According to the expert, he views Israel’s decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide with mixed feelings: on one hand, as historically just and long overdue, and on the other, as a belated and politically motivated step tied more to foreign-policy calculation and a reaction to Turkey’s actions than to a genuine acknowledgment of the Armenian people’s tragedy.

“My first reaction was mixed: thank God, and what a disgrace. Thank God that, finally, finally, the Israeli government has recognized the genocide of the Armenian people. A disgrace, because it was done so late. The Israeli government refused to recognize the Armenian Genocide, refused for mercenary political reasons, which is unthinkable and unacceptable in this kind of decision. And it made this decision not because it suddenly felt respect or came to understand the tragedy of the Armenian people. No. Calculation again. Erdogan once again attacked Israel in his boorish manner, accusing Israel of genocide. And someone got the idea: ‘Ah, genocide? Let’s respond to him with the Armenian Genocide.’ That’s what they did. It’s tawdry, it’s low, it’s disgusting, it’s dishonorable. But as I’ve said before: Scripture says that holy deeds are very often carried out by the hands of sinners. So the deed itself is holy. The fact that circumstances forced the Israeli government to begin the process of recognizing the Genocide, that’s good. But the reasons why it was done are a disgrace for the Jewish people and for the Jewish state. Absolutely all of Israeli society, except for certain people of Turkish origin, has always stood in solidarity with the tragedy of the Armenian people,” Kedmi said.

According to the expert, Azerbaijan finds itself in a difficult position, caught between pressure from Turkey and its beneficial cooperation with Israel, and will therefore limit itself to a public reaction without taking any real steps, so as not to harm its own interests.

“Given the very warm relations between Israel and Azerbaijan, economic, political, and military, Aliyev finds himself in a very difficult position. On one hand, Turkey is pressuring him: ‘Look how we’ve been insulted.’ Azerbaijan, after all, doesn’t recognize the Armenian Genocide either. So he decided to find a way out: publicly distance himself from this decision. Will there be any practical steps behind this? I don’t think so. Azerbaijan maintains relations with Israel not out of altruism. It’s beneficial to them economically, politically, and militarily. So it’s unlikely they’ll harm themselves with actions like this.

Aliyev already has a difficult position with the West as it is. Ever since his father’s time, Azerbaijan has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights violations. So it matters to him that neither Israel nor Jewish organizations around the world join those accusations, and instead help him overcome the problems that arise. From his point of view, it would be unwise to act otherwise. And it wouldn’t serve the interests of the Azerbaijani people and the Azerbaijani state. If he follows this logic , and I hope he will, there won’t be any serious consequences,” Kedmi noted.

According to the political scientist, the EU and the US are using Armenia as part of their geopolitical confrontation with Russia.

“Suddenly they noticed that there’s a state called Armenia. And first and foremost, as part of their anti-Russian actions and attempts to pull Armenia over to their side, and now they don’t even need to pull that hard, since it’s gravitating toward an anti-Russian position on its own, they decided to strengthen their position in Armenia in order to use it against Russia. She [von der Leyen] was looking for something to offer Armenia. So she raised the question of Armenian products. I don’t know exactly what. Armenian cognac? What else? Fruits, vegetables from Armenia? But Europe doesn’t need them. What’s more, that’s actually a problem for the European countries themselves. Armenia today isn’t an industrially developed state. Yes, the Americans have big Napoleonic plans. They’re promising to invest in developing Armenia’s knowledge-intensive industry. That’s a sensible decision, because the Armenian people are talented in this field. The question is to what extent Armenia’s current population will be able to take advantage of these opportunities and realize them. The Americans are promising Armenia purely economic assistance, billions of dollars. Europe, meanwhile, trying to compete with the United States so that, God forbid, Armenia doesn’t become more pro-American than pro-European, is trying to make its own moves. But one shouldn’t suspect Europe of any special warm feelings toward Armenia, or of a sincere desire to help and look after Armenia and the Armenian people. We’ve already seen that throughout the entire history of the Armenian people. Europe has betrayed Armenia and the Armenian people time and time again,” Kedmi said.