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The Azerbaijani parliament on Friday accepted a proposal to open an embassy in Israel.
The historic choice will make Azerbaijan the primary Shi’ite Muslim nation to open an embassy within the Jewish state.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid welcomed the transfer, saying “Azerbaijan is a crucial accomplice of Israel and residential to one of many largest Jewish communities within the Muslim world.
“The choice to open an embassy displays the depth of the connection between our nations. This transfer is the results of the Israeli authorities’s efforts to construct robust diplomatic bridges with the Muslim world,” he mentioned.
“The Azeri individuals… will now be represented for the primary time within the State of Israel,” he added.
Israel has had an embassy in Baku since 1992.
The Embassy of Israel ???????? congratulates the individuals of Azerbaijan on the event of the State Flag Day ???????? pic.twitter.com/V12JiG32yZ
— Israel in Azerbaijan (@IsraelinAZ) November 9, 2022
The Azeri choice displays its shut ties with Israel — notably within the fields of safety and commerce — and its more and more strained ties with Iran.
Earlier this week, Azerbaijan mentioned it arrested 5 of its nationals for spying for Iran after an increase in tensions between the neighbors. The arrests got here per week after Baku and Tehran accused one another of hostile rhetoric.
Iran, house to thousands and thousands of ethnic Azeris, has lengthy accused its smaller northern neighbor of fueling separatist sentiment on its territory.
Final month, Protection Minister Benny Gantz held an official go to to Azerbaijan, the place he met along with his Azeri counterpart, Zakir Hasanov, and the nation’s President Ilham Aliyev.
The go to centered on safety and coverage points, with the goal of fostering protection cooperation between Jerusalem and Baku.
Protection Minister Benny Gantz on a state go to to Azerbaijan, October 3, 2022. (Nicole Laskavi/MOD)
The go to adopted a latest flare-up within the preventing between Azerbaijan and its neighbor Armenia, over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh area.
In 2020, the neighboring nations fought a six-week-long battle that claimed the lives of greater than 6,000 troopers and resulted in Azerbaijan conquering a number of the disputed territories, previous to a Russian-brokered ceasefire.
Israel has main weapons offers with Azerbaijan, although it doesn’t disclose particulars of the agreements.
In 2016, Aliyev mentioned his nation had purchased $4.85 billion in protection tools from the Jewish state, however Israel has by no means confirmed that determine.
AFP and Ash Obel contributed to this report.
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