As Hamas continues its salvo of rockets into Israel, members of the Azerbaijani diaspora have expressed their solidarity with the Jewish state and drew similarities between the Israel-Gaza conflict and the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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"The rocket attacks [by Armenia] on Ganja and other [Azerbaijani] cities are similar to what the Palestinians are doing now. The Armenians attacked civilians in the same way, in the middle of the night, killing many during the war, just like in Israel," local Rabbi Zamir Isayev said.
Ayav Israel, who heads the Azerbaijani Diaspora Youth in Israel, also explained: "Rockets are falling in Southern and Central Israel, just like they fell on Ganja, Barda, and Tartar. Both the Armenian forces and Hamas indiscriminately targeted civilians."
For this reason, Israel's war against Hamas is a just war, he said. "The absolute majority of Azerbaijani society supports Israel. Since the proclamation of our independence, we are two nations with a similar fate that fight for our right to exist every day."
Some Israeli officials also pointed out similarities between the two conflicts.
Israeli ambassador to Baku George Deek said the Israel-Gaza conflict took him back to his visit to Ganja in October 2020, the day after Azerbaijan was attacked by rockets in the middle of the night. "I remember the devastation, the elderly who became homeless and the children who saw their school turn into rubble," he said.
"I particularly remember the heartbreaking encounter with the family of Artur Mayakov, a boy who lost his life while sleeping in his room in Ganja. Indeed, his story is very similar to that of the five-year-old Israeli boy Ido Avigal, who lost his life during a Hamas rocket attack."
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