A blend of anti-Semitism and terrorism horrifies Jews in Armenia A nightmare is on the rise

The life for Jews in Armenia is growingly turning into a real nightmare. Aside from the escalating cross-country racial hatred, the Jews in this Christian South Caucasus country are now facing the horrors of the Armenian terror.

A new wave of drastically growing anti-Semitism in Armenia was reported on November 15 when the notorious Armenian terrorist organisation ASALA’s youth wing ASALA-Y attempted to set a Jewish center in the capital Yerevan on fire.

The footage of the incident at the Jewish Chabad center was posted on ASALA-Y Telegram channel, describing it as a “successful operation by fearless fighters”.

“Fearless fighters of ASALA-Y struck the Yerevan center of the Jewish organisation Chabad, which entangled most countries of the world in its web,” it wrote. “We repeated the success of the Palestinian resistance. This second operation was carried out in solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements against Zionism. We fully support the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance.”

Footage from Jewish centre vandalised by ASALA-Y members

ASALA-Y members also hung posters in Yerevan and other cities of Armenia, stating that Israel is the common enemy of Armenians and Palestinians.

The vandalistic act at the Chabad center followed the first attack by ASALA-Y against a synagogue in Yerevan on October 3. At that time, members of the terrorist group were seen pouring red paint on the walls and breaking out the windows of the Mordechai Navi synagogue. Israeli state radio Kan reported that the attackers also threw a Molotov cocktail into the building attempting to set it on fire.

Posters put by ASALA-Y members in Yerevan

ASALA-Y said the October offensive was organized “to force the rabbis of Europe to withdraw their support” for Azerbaijan’s restoration of sovereignty over the entire Karabakh region.

One of the world’s smallest Jewish communities reside in Armenia, the monoethnic Christian nation of the South Caucasus. Although the Jews in Armenia are free to practice, there have been numerous manifestations of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitic sentiments in Armenia have been in the focus of various international observers over the years. In 2018, a Pew Research Center survey revealed that 32 percent of Armenians would not accept Jews as fellow citizens. Meanwhile, majority of country’s population reaffirmed in the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) latest “Global 100” study that a variety of anti-Semitic stereotypes in Armenia are “probably true.”

Particularly since 2020, when Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a bloody 44-day war ending in the liberation of the latter’s territories, anti-Semitism in Armenia have been staggering. Israel’s counteroffensive measures to disable Hamas in Gaza further refueled the growing dislike of Jews.

The country’s public discourse over the past three years took a woeful stance against Israel and the Jews around the world. For Armenians, Israel’s participation in the modernization of the Azerbaijani military and support for the restoration of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, is a cause to edge local Jews.

A report by the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs regarding anti-Semitism in the Diaspora from September 10-17, 2023, recalled the Armenia-Azerbaijan confrontations in August-September 2023 and in the 2020 war to explain the rise of Armenian hatred against Jews.

According to the report, Armenia accused Israel of numerous cases of close relationship with Azerbaijan, particularly in terms of arms supplies. The ministry notes that the war of 2020 significantly fueled the level of anti-Semitism in Armenia, manifested in cases of vandalism and a rise in anti-Semitic discourse on social media. The culprits of the vandalistic attack on the synagogue in Yerevan in October 3 said Azerbaijan and Jews were “the sworn enemies of the Armenian state and people”.

Abusing Holocaust to look pathetic

The anti-Semitic sentiments in Armenia took another dangerous turn simultaneously with the rightful condemnation of the world Jewish communities of the abuse of Holocaust for political gains by the Armenian authorities and people. A vast majority of state and public discourse in the country pathetically put the events in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and Holocaust on the same shelf. To them, the developments in Karabakh was what Holocaust was to Jews.

But realities speak louder than falsifications. What did really happen in Karabakh since 2020? Despite Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 war and legally binding demands to withdraw Armenian troops from Karabakh, a portion of the Armenian military remained in the region. Their presence created a new hotbed of threats against the sovereignty of Azerbaijan. The troops, calling themselves “defence forces” of the Karabakh separatists, prevented the post-war peace efforts with regular, sometimes deadly provocations.

Although the Azerbaijani side repeatedly called for voluntary withdrawal, it was to no avail. Vice versa, Armenia intensively armed the separatist forces in Karabakh. To enforce its calls, the Azerbaijani authorities installed in April a border checkpoint at the entrance of a road connecting Armenia with the region’s Armenian minority via the country’s territory. The control point enabled a strict control of shipments to Karabakh, preventing further military supplies reaching the region.

The Armenian authorities distorted the developments as an attempt by the Azerbaijani side to impose a blockade on Karabakh Armenians in order to “forcibly displace” them. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan biasedly compared the Nazi-created ghettos for Jews to what Azerbaijanis have been doing in Karabakh. Next step was incorporating Holocaust into the narrative of never-happened “genocide” of Armenians in Karabakh.

On September 7, fifty senior rabbis from 20 European countries signed a joint letter to condemn Armenia's use of Holocaust rhetoric for political gains. In the letter, the rabbis stated that "expressions such as ‘ghetto’, ‘genocide’, ‘holocaust’ and others are (…) inappropriate to be part of the jargon used in any kind of political disagreement."

The letter of the rabbis prompted the Armenian diaspora in Europe to pressure rabbis who participated in public statements or signed letters. In addition, Jewish citizens of Yerevan also began to come under pressure. ASALA-Y issued intimidations of burning Jewish synagogues and targeting every rabbi across Europe.

Numerous calls for violence against Jews in Armenia have been flowing across internet. There have been repeated expressions of the wish for a new Hitler to be born or to appear among the Armenians: “How we miss Hitler now, he would have calmed them [Jews] down quickly”.

A monument to Nazi collaborator Garegin Nzdeh in Armenia's capital Yerevan

According to World Jewish Congress estimates, about 500-1,000 Jews, mostly of Ashkenazi origin, and some Mizrahi and Georgian Jews, were registered in Yerevan. However, in the wake of the recent escalation of the general public opinion about Jews to a level of racial hatred and discrimination, most of them have left Armenia.

On September 9, on the Jewish Sabbath, during prayer, an unknown Armenian burst into the vandalized Mordechai Navi synagogue to insult and threaten the Jews. Despite the incident, Yerevan authorities did not take security measures to protect the only center of the Jewish religious community. On September 17, the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs reported deteriorating life of Jews in Armenia, warning:” There are concerns about… violent attacks against Jewish property in the near future.”

Following the incidents, Israeli state radio Kan reported that there are only 200 Jews left in Armenia. Azerbaijani Jewish Community’s rabbi Zamir Isayev called on the last Jews in Armenia to leave the country and move to Azerbaijan, where he guaranteed them citizenship and security.

Jews in Azerbaijan

According to the Azerbaijani Jewish community, around 24,000 Jews live in Azerbaijan, including Mountain Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, and Georgian Jews. Mountain Jews primarily settled in Baku and the northern Guba district. Ashkenazi Jews mostly live in the cities of Baku and Sumgait.

Historical sources identify Mountain Jews living in the Caucasus as descendants of the Lost Tribes that left Israel after the destruction of the First Temple in 587 BC. Caucasian Mountain Jews, as they are called, have been living in Azerbaijan for around two millennia, since Jews from Persia and possibly the Byzantine Empire was thought to have moved northeastward and settled in the region.

In Azerbaijan, where 97 percent of the population is Muslim, Jews have flourished. The only all-Jewish town outside of Israel and the United States is Gyrmyzy Gasaba (or Krasnaya Sloboda meaning “red village”), which is located in Azerbaijan. The name of the village comes from the use of red tiles on many of the roofs. Around 3,200 Mountain Jews settled in this village, which is considered the world’s last surviving shtetl. The term "shtetl" refers to a small town populated by Jews in Central and Eastern Europe before the Holocaust.

Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaija George Deek with a member of the country's Jewish community in the city of Gandja

There are three Jewish synagogues in Gyrmyzy Gasaba (Krasnaya Sloboda). While synagogues in Europe, the United States, and Muslim-majority countries around the world are secured like a fortress, such measures are not necessary for those in Azerbaijan where armed guards or high-tech security solutions are rarely seen.

In 2020, the Museum of the History and Culture of Mountain Jews opened in Gyrmyzy Gasaba. It is located in the Karchog synagogue, closed during the Soviet years, and already restored to its original appearance. The art center exhibits multiple items such as clothes, jewelry, ritual utensils, manuscripts, books and old household items donated by Jews living in different corners of the world.