Country without anti-Semitism

"There is no anti-Semitism and there has never been" is the phrase that  Anshel Pfeffer, the  correspondent  of  Haaretz , has always heard about  Azerbaijan. And this  is a country  with 95% of the population – Shiites-Muslims, and Iran  is very close.

Of course, the Azerbaijanis and Jews lived side by side for over 2500 years, under the yoke of various empires, the author narrates. Many Shiites  are tolerant, the Azerbaijani culture  is rather secular. Israel and Azerbaijan  is  a powerful strategic alliance. President Ilham Aliyev  very often visits Jewish centers.

The author says about the war  in  Nagorno-Karabakh, and remarks, "cleptocratic regime beats rally makers, arbitrary imprisons journalists and dissidents, and corrects the results of the election."

According to Pfeffer, "litmus test" of the situation of human rights - is  the attitude to the Jews. But the experience of Azerbaijan and "Putin's Russia" led him to the question: "Can a dictator mistreat their people and treat good the Jews? And  what if his actions are explained by the hope of patronage of the "Jewish lobby "in Washington?"

According to the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism, in 2012, Azerbaijan has registered just one anti-Semitic incident: Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyov received anti-Semitic letters after condemned Azerbaijan Airlines flight for preventing Armenian.

"Perhaps one should not extrapolate based on the individual case, but it seems  that the Jews are  tolerated and protected, when they act as loyal citizens of Azerbaijan",  concludes the author. And will  Aliyev protect the Jewish community, if young Jews  join the protest movement?

The real guarantee of safety for the minority can only be a democracy, not a good attitude of the dictator, the author concludes. -02D-