‘Nobody in Azerbaijan is asking local Jews about double loyalty – the idea that building bridges between Baku and Jerusalem is not in the interests of the Azerbaijani nation is considered absurd’
Jewish organizations in Washington, DC, held a forum in Congress, focusing on religious freedom in the Caucasus. The next day, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) reported that Azerbaijan has become the first Muslim-majority country to include a definition of antisemitism in its textbooks.
“Nobody in Azerbaijan is asking local Jews about double loyalty. The idea that building bridges between Baku and Jerusalem is not in the interests of the Azerbaijani nation is considered absurd,” noted Rabbi Zamir Isayev, chief rabbi of the Sephardi community of Baku, during a forum in the US Congress last week.
Isayev presented the case of Azerbaijan during the event, which focused on religious freedoms and tolerance in the Caucasus. He discussed the issues of security of the local Jewish community with representatives of the US Jewish organizations, stressing that the Azerbaijani government sees any threat to Jews as a threat to the state’s stability.
“Everybody knows that we have a very long border with Iran, which always tries to harm our schools and synagogues by sending proxies – foreigners and hired criminals,” Isayev said. “We never needed to ask the local secret service for additional security. They are highly professional and always provide additional protection even before we know that there is a threat. And the local population is very sympathetic to us. A Jew in a kippah can freely roam the streets. Azerbaijanis associate Jews with Israel, and Israel is considered an ally and a friend.”
He invited all the participants to visit Azerbaijan, asking US Representative Timothy M. Kennedy in particular to come and see the example of Judeo-Muslim symbiosis that Azerbaijan is setting for the Muslim world. Isayev quoted and distributed copies of a recent research paper by the Begin-Sadat Center, which analyzed the 30-year-long strategic alliance between Baku and Jerusalem.
As proof of Isayev’s words at the end of the week, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), a British nonprofit organization that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula around the world, published a report that stressed how Azerbaijan has become the first Muslim-majority country to include a definition of antisemitism in its textbooks. IMPACT-se examined 53 textbooks from Azerbaijan’s national curriculum, identifying the removal of anti-Israel narratives and the absence of Islamist rhetoric.
“Azerbaijan promotes the freedom of religion and tolerance, creating an open environment for all religions to flourish, including Judaism,” the study concluded. “Students are taught the value of tolerance and harmony in modern society, and examples of Jewish prayer and rituals are incorporated into the curriculum.”
The report highlighted that Judaism is “highly regarded in the textbooks,” and the books also correctly portray the Holocaust as a genocide of six million Jews, highlighting antisemitic measures such as arbitrary killings and imprisonment rather than trying to downplay or deny the Nazis’ atrocities.
“The textbooks demonstrate a clear rejection of the extreme Islamist values promoted by their near-neighbor Iran,” IMPACT–se CEO Marcus Sheff said, commenting on the report. “Instead, they promote tolerance, diversity, and a heartfelt respect for Jews and Israel, which serves as an important model for many other majority-Muslim states.”
In related news, a Jewish singer has been chosen to represent Azerbaijan in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Thirty-two-year-old Asaf (Sefael) Mishiev will be performing as part of his Baku-based band, Mamagama, in which he is the front man and soloist.
Mishiev is well known in Azerbaijan’s Jewish community – in 2013 he won a Mountain Jewish music competition, and he also reportedly gave singing lessons to children and teenagers at the Jewish Community Club in Baku.