Who is demonizing Armenia in Israel? - Aleksander Tzinker

ArmInfo. Who is trying to demonize Armenia in Israel? This is the question asked by Israeli  political scientist, founder and first head of the Israel-Armenia interparliamentary friendship group Alexander Tzinker in his article on Facebook.

The expert draws attention to the fact that The Jerusalem Post  recently published an article by Mordechai Kedar about the  Iranian-Armenian arms deal. Tzinker reminds that this information is  fake, which was refuted not only by Armenia and Iran, but even by  independent experts in the field of arms trade.

In this vein, the political scientist drew attention to several real  facts that are relevant to this issue.

"The author cites Iran International, which reported on the $500  million deal, which is a third of Armenia's defense budget. Then  Mordechai Kedar, for some reason trying to present Armenia as a  potential aggressor against Azerbaijan, reports that Armenia has also  concluded an arms deal with India "for $600 million, which is about  90% of Armenia's military budget." There is some confusion in the  percentages, but that is not the point.

It is known that due to the supply of low-quality weapons from  Russia, Armenia has had serious problems with the modernization of  its army, while Azerbaijan has successfully carried it out with the  help of Israel, having concluded an agreement with it for the supply  of weapons worth more than 5 billion dollars," Tsinker notes.

The expert then notes that the author, speaking about the latest  purchases of weapons by Armenia, makes an unexpected conclusion: "It  seems that Armenia is preparing for the next war in the Caucasus,  otherwise why buy such a quantity of weapons?"

"I wonder if the billion-dollar purchases of weapons by Azerbaijan  did not cause alarm and suspicion from him and other experts on the  Greater Middle East about the preparation of a large-scale military  operation by Azerbaijan against Armenia?" Tsinker asks in this  regard.

The political scientist recalled that Armenia is a sovereign state  that is obliged to defend itself, and for this purpose has the right  to purchase weapons from whomever it deems necessary. "It should also  be noted that Armenia's purchases of weapons, even from Iran, do not  provide any security to Israel, while Israeli arms supplies to  Azerbaijan pose a serious threat to Armenia's security, which was  clearly demonstrated by the second Karabakh war," he noted. Tsinker  emphasized that the supply of Israeli weapons directly during this  war, in conditions when all other countries suspended such supplies,  had the most negative impact on Armenian-Israeli relations.  "Nevertheless, it is obvious that Armenia has found the strength to  turn this dark page by opening an embassy in Tel Aviv and launching a  direct Yerevan-Tel Aviv flight - steps to which, unfortunately,  Israel has not yet responded in kind," the political scientist added.

At the same time, Tsinker noted that the statement that "Iran has  been arming Armenia for a long time.  Cooperation between Iran and  Armenia dates back to the First Karabakh War" does not correspond to  reality. "Iran did not participate in either Karabakh war, while  Turkey was actively involved on the side of Azerbaijan, as recently  revealed thanks to Erdogan's much-publicized statement, not to  mention numerous Islamist mercenaries from Afghanistan, Syria and  Turkey," the expert emphasized. Further recalling that Iran and its  proxies are waging an open war with Israel, forcing Tel Aviv to find  new arms suppliers to ensure its security, Tsinker wondered why some  are surprised that non-Muslim Armenia, which faces the same  challenges in ensuring its security in a hostile environment as  Israel, is doing the same?

"Those who like to demonize Armenia because of its good relations  with its neighbor should be reminded that, being a Christian country,  it is in no way subject to the ideological influence of Iran, as  evidenced by its desire to develop friendly relations with Israel,  and it is certainly not a member of the Shiite Crescent and the Axis  of Evil. The Israeli press sometimes tries to create an image of  Armenia as a country with a high level of anti-Semitism, while the  National Security Council of Israel, apparently without reading these  publications, time and again classifies Armenia, unlike all the  countries surrounding it, as one of the safest countries for Jews in  the entire vast Eurasian space. Today, Armenia has set a course for  rapprochement with the West. Why should it risk its relations with it  with some dubious deal with Iran? But if such fake material was  published in our country, then someone needed it. Who," asked  Tsinker.