Leading Jewish Scholar
Condemns Israel’s
Sale of Murderous Weapons to
Azerbaijan
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California
Courier
In last week’s large-scale
attack on Artsakh (Karabagh), the Azeri military killed and injured dozens of
Armenian soldiers and civilians, using the sophisticated weapons purchased from
Israel and Russia for billions of dollars.
The Armenian government and
Armenians worldwide accused both Israel and Russia of responsibility for the innocent
Armenian lives lost in the recent Azeri invasion.
Prof. Israel Charny, a
righteous Jew and a staunch defender of human rights, could not remain silent
knowing that his country -- Israel -- had a bloody role in the Armenian
killings. As Executive Director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide
in Jerusalem, Dr. Charny sent a scathing commentary to the Israeli newspaper,
Haaretz, under the provocative title: “Would Israel Sell a Used Drone to a
Hitler?” Here is what he wrote:
“If the Nazis were not at all
murdering Jews but ‘only’ were murdering say hated Slavs, Gypsies, and
Jehovah’s Witnesses; and if our beloved State of Israel were in existence;
would you agree to our selling arms to the Nazis?
“Israel is reported to have
sold billions of dollars of arms including to governments that are killing or
threatening to attack victim peoples. Last week, there came reports that an
Israeli drone in the hands of Azerbaijan -- a huge arms customer of ours -- was
responsible for the deaths of six Armenians in the Armenian enclave Nagorno
Karabagh.
“I am ashamed!
“The Armenians were the
victims of a major genocide 100 years ago that has even been called the
‘Armenian Shoah’ by some Israeli scholars, including from Bar Ilan University. A
great deal of their national and cultural concern continues to focus
passionately on the memory of that genocide (does that sound familiar to us
Jews?). For many years now, we Israelis -- whether led by Labor or Likud --
have insulted and hurt the Armenian people by failing to recognize their genocide
officially and formally. Would we ourselves tolerate another government -- say
the U.S. or England -- failing to recognize the Holocaust because of their
realpolitik interest with the perpetrator government?
“One senior Armenian official
has written several of us in Israel to express his deep pain as well as
indignation now not only at our cowardly and self-serving denials of the
Armenian Genocide, but also at our thick military trade alliance with Azerbaijan.
I am reminded of the prophet Nathan crying out to King David for an earlier
though more delectable murderous act of self-interest: It’s bad enough that you
killed him, are you also taking a profit from the sordid affair? The Azeris are
a Turkic people who adhere to Turkey’s bizarre and fascist tradition of
rewriting history and denying the Armenian Genocide.
“In general, how much do we
Israelis want to strengthen our economy by lucrative arms sales? Of course,
‘everyone’ in the world is doing it, but do we have to also? Have we given up
the image/dream of Israel as a moral leader of peoples on this planet? Is this
idea tiresome, naïve, and childlike in a madly destructive and self-destroying
world?
“An alternative concept could
be that along with our building arms first and foremost for the defense of
Israel, that we sell -- or contribute -- arms only to underdog peoples who are
facing mass destruction, and/or to allies like the U.S., who are essentially
committed to shared democratic values and peace. Of course, we will still be
making some mistakes, but at least our conscience will be more clear that we
have not delivered used arms to the ‘Nazis.’
“To my Armenian colleagues
and friends, I can only say that as a Jew and as an Israeli, I am mortified -- and
angry.”
Prof. Charny’s harsh words
are fully justified as both Israeli and Russian officials have shamefully
pledged to continue shipping more weapons to Azerbaijan!
Dr. Charny has never shied
away from expressing his critical views on Israel’s immoral policies on
Armenian issues. In a scathing letter in 2001, he told Israel’s Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres: “You have gone beyond a moral boundary that no Jew
should allow himself to trespass…. As a Jew and an Israeli, I am ashamed of the
extent to which you have now entered into the range of actual denial of the
Armenian Genocide, comparable to denials of the Holocaust.”
Prof. Charny should be highly
commended for his bold and righteous stand, taking to task the callous leaders
of his own country!
