To know how Israel should respond to the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno Karabakh, where an Armenian community of 120,000 souls is facing severe shortages of food and medicine, one doesn’t need to become an expert on at least a century of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and one certainly doesn’t need to take a side and decide who is right. Not unlike the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, each side has its own narrative, each side justifies itself with the language of human rights, and each side accuses the other of engaging in propaganda. The rabbit hole of conflicting facts and perspectives is daunting, but it can and should be side-stepped by focusing on real human suffering and our responsibility as a nation.
The fact that people are suffering in Nagorno Karabakh, known as Artsakh by its almost exclusively Armenian population, cannot be denied. The 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended with Azerbaijan in control over most of the territory it had lost to Armenia 30 years earlier, with only the fate of Artsakh undecided. In the ceasefire agreement that ended the fighting, Russia guaranteed that its forces would ensure free passage from Artsakh to Armenia by the one remaining road that connected them. But since last December, Azerbaijan has enforced an increasingly severe siege of the region so that the area is now without basic food, medicine, and electricity. Stores are empty, and there is no gas, so getting to the breadlines means kilometers-long walks. The most vulnerable populations are suffering the most, with early-term miscarriages having increased three-fold, and two weeks ago, the Human Rights reporter recorded the first death from starvation of a 40-year-old man.
But why should Israelis, in particular, care? After all, we have plenty of our own problems. And there is plenty of suffering in the world. We can’t get involved in all of the world’s problems. And Azerbaijan has its own explanation for the siege and is willing to allow humanitarian assistance through Azerbaijan rather than from Armenia. So, how can we take sides?
The answer is that regarding this problem, we are already involved, and we have already taken sides. In the five years leading up to the war in 2020, 69% of Azerbaijan’s arms imports came from Israel, and many point to the use of Israeli drones as the deciding factor in Azerbaijan’s quick victory, a victory which created the conditions that enabled this siege. Israel has real reasons for cultivating a relationship with Azerbaijan because of energy and security needs, although one can question how much legitimate ends can justify morally problematic means. But setting that question aside, the reality is that Israel is already involved, and that involvement comes with responsibility. In conditioning aid on the acceptance of Azerbaijani sovereignty, Azerbaijan is essentially continuing its war by means of starvation, in violation of the ceasefire it signed. The choice it offers Artsakh is surrender or starve to death. Even if one were to agree that this territory belongs to Azerbaijan, winning it back by starving a civilian population is not a tactic that can be justified.
People are suffering, and we are already involved. But what can be done? Quite simple. As expressed in a recent letter by rabbis, academics, and another public figure to the president, Israel should use its close relationship with Azerbaijan to demand that it allow humanitarian aid through Armenia, exactly as it committed to. We cannot allow ourselves to be turned complicit in the starvation of civilians. And we cannot stand by and be silent while we have the ability to stop this human suffering.
For another view on the subject, click here.