Why Israel and Armenia Aren’t Closer — and Why That May Finally Change

“If you focus on antisemitism, you institutionalize it and make it a reality,” said Armen Akopian, Armenia’s envoy in Israel. “Focus instead on the absence of an Israeli embassy in Armenia, which I think sends a very wrong message. It means there is no interest in our country.”

Akopian notes that only three ex-Soviet republics remain without Israeli embassies: Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. “As Armenia’s ambassador here, I’m not very comfortable being in this group,” he said. “I don’t believe Israel doesn’t have the money to support a small office in Yerevan. If they wanted to, they’d find it.”

He added: “Some people consider any criticism of Israeli politics as antisemitism. By that measure, everyone protesting the current Israeli government in Kaplan Street is antisemitic.”

Daily Jewish life in Armenia, meanwhile, appears largely untroubled.

“In four years here we haven’t faced antisemitism — no hostility or prejudice,” said Nathaniel Trubkin, founder of Yerevan Jewish Home, a charity that represents several hundred Russian and Ukrainian Jews who fled to Armenia in the wake of Russia’s February 2022 invasion. Originally from Moscow, Trubkin, 45, holds both Russian and Israeli citizenship.

“In almost four years in Armenia, we haven’t faced any antisemitism in daily life—no hostility or prejudice toward our ethnicity or religion,” he said, estimating that Jews comprise no more than 1,000 of Armenia’s three million or so inhabitants. “On the contrary, we’ve met many people in Armenian intellectual circles who truly want closer relations with Israel.”

He acknowledged anger over Israeli weapon sales to Azerbaijan but said online hostility is “no worse than in any other country” since the Israel-Hamas war began.

The vandalism of Yerevan’s only synagogue, the Mordechay Navi Jewish Religious Center — three incidents between September and November 2023 — has also been portrayed by Armenian analysts as a false-flag attempt to damage the country’s reputation.

“The synagogue attack was immediately reported by Azerbaijan’s ambassador in Germany, who tweeted about it half an hour after the incident — that raises some questions,” Akopian said. “Meanwhile, look what is happening to synagogues and Jewish graveyards in Europe and the United States.”

Other sensitivities run in the opposite direction. Frequent incidents of Orthodox Jews spitting at Christian clergy in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter have inflamed perceptions among Armenians abroad. “Of course it creates bad feelings, because the police do nothing,” Akopian said. “They don’t even detain these people — and when they do, they release them after half an hour.”

These outbursts of religious hatred have received widespread coverage throughout the Armenian diaspora.

Giorgi Tumasyan, an Armenian community activist living in neighboring Georgia, views the Yerevan incident “as part of the hybrid warfare by Azerbaijan and Russia” against his country.

“I believe there were some misunderstandings in our relations with Israel,” Tumasyan said by phone from Tbilisi. “From the Armenian side, until very recently we were very dependent on Russia, and Russian influence led to stereotypes about Israel and against Armenian-Israeli relations. It was Moscow’s agenda to keep our two communities far from each other.”

Tumasyan, chairman of the Armenian Community Platform of Georgia, said Israel’s historically poor relationship with Armenia is more a consequence of superpower rivalry than anything else, noting that “this is all about Russia wanting to limit our ties to Israel, and the United States too.”

But some in Armenia argue the bigger story is shifting geopolitics. “It’s in Russia’s interest to isolate Armenia — and they do it through Azerbaijan,” said Ruben Mehrabyan, vice-president of Armenia’s Rally for the Republic party.

“There are only a few democracies in the region — Armenia, Israel, Georgia and Cyprus — so our two countries should be best friends,” he added. “We have to look forward, not backward. Our relations are only about two countries, Armenia and Israel. It’s not about Azerbaijan or Iran. And the ball is now in Israel’s court.”