ArmInfo. It is not excluded that the visit and the meeting of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has improved the atmosphere of understanding and will create prerequisites for the development of relations with the goal of opening representative offices of the countries in Israel and Armenia, the first Israeli ambassador to Armenia, forum "Armenia-Israel", Professor of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem Baruch Ben-Neria.
"However, we should not forget that Iran is Armenia's strategic partner, while Israel pursues a regional policy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and to exclude Iran's presence and strengthening in Syria." This is another reason for opponents of developing relations with Armenia, trying to reduce relations with Armenia Israel to a minimum, "the professor notes in his article in Maariv weekly . At the same time, according to his estimates, Israel understands very well the complexity of the policy pursued by Armenia in its region.
He believes that the military and political blockade of Armenia by Turkey and Azerbaijan forces Yerevan to follow a multi-vector policy, developing relations with Iran, Russia and the West. In this light, Ben-Neria characterizes Iran as a gateway to Armenia for energy supply, development and investment, a gateway connecting the two countries and strengthening the economy of Armenia. The diplomat also notes Yerevan's concern over its own security in connection with Azerbaijan's technological cooperation with Israel. According to him, last year's tests of the UAV of the Israeli company Aeronautics on Armenian positions were carried out in violation of all procedures and directives of the Ministry of Defense of Israel.
Ben-Neria regretfully notes the haze of Israel's defense exports to Azerbaijan, although sometimes information on the volume and structure of this export is published in international media. The Israeli diplomat also noted that today's Israel takes the position of the need for a just settlement of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh through peaceful negotiations of the parties to the conflict with international mediation. "Another factor hindering the development of relations between Armenia and Israel is the lack of recognition by Israel of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire of 1915. It should be noted that although Israel has not yet officially recognized the Armenian Genocide, every year events dedicated to these events are held in Israel. The research also shows support by the majority of Israelis for this fact: the lobby in the Knesset several times demanded recognition of the genocide, however, it was not possible to achieve majority in the voting, "- summed up the professor.