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Israeli governmentâ€™s position on Nagorno Karabakh conflict is ambiguous, Israeli ambassador says

12 July 2014 11:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ramiz Mikayiloglu – APA. “Israel and Azerbaijan have good relations”, Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan Rafael Harpaz said in his interview to APA.

The Ambassador said that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Shimon Peres in the Davos Economic Forum in 2013. He recalled the mutual visits of foreign ministers of the two countries Elmar Mammadyarov and Avigdor Liberman as well as the visits of Azerbaijani Minister of Agriculture Heydar Asadov and Chairman of the Parliament's Committee on international and inter-parliamentary relations Samad Seyidov to Israel and the visits of Israeli parliamentarians to Azerbaijan.

The Ambassador noted that as part of the visit, Liberman and Elmar MAmmadyarov signed an agreement on bilateral political consultations: “Agreements were signed on oncology and visa facilitation for diplomatic and official passport holders and I think that the latter will come into force in early October. I would like to underline the cooperation in the energy sector. Israel imports a certain portion of oil from Azerbaijan. Recently, new gas fields were discovered in Israel. We don’t know how to exploit these fields. Therefore, we are working to establish a body like the State Oil Fund in Azerbaijan. We would like to benefit from Azerbaijan’s practice in this sphere. Knesset members had visited Azerbaijan in this regard”, he emphasized.

The diplomat stated that there are opportunities to boost cooperation in the academic field. “We see the increasing number of Azerbaijani students studying in Israel. I would like a bilateral cooperation to be established between Israeli and Azerbaijani universities. Representatives of one of Israel’s largest universities, the University of Haifa, are expected to visit Azerbaijan in near future and establish relations with universities here.

The Ambassador recalled that the Israeli government has an ambiguous position regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “We are in favor of peaceful solution to problems and supporting the OSCE Minsk Group and Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. This is the position of Israel”, he added.

The Israeli Ambassador also spoke of the incidents in the Gaza Strip. “Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations have fired more than 540 missiles over Israel. They purposefully fire missiles at Israeli hospitals, schools and residential areas in order to kill civilians. They use civilians as a protective means. There is no country in the world that is facing such a reality as Israel is. Rockets are fired from Gaza at holy places as well. 4 million Israelis faced this threat. Of course, we will respond to that and attack Gaza.

We, unlike Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Organization, feel guilty for each murdered Palestinian and regret it. But this is the fault of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, the terrorist organizations. They have been shooting missiles for the last 3 weeks, and we kept silent. But they have now exceeded boundaries. Over 120 missiles were fired over Israel just yesterday alone. We are seeking tranquility. We hope Hamas and other terrorist organizations will calm down once and for all in near future and put an end to their anti-Israel campaigns”.

The ambassador noted that the issue must be judged in regional context: “Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are extremist organizations. Despite some differences, the ideologies of these organizations are similar to those of ISIS and Hezbollah. The international community is supporting us. British Foreign Minister William Hague, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande expressed their support for Israel during their speeches yesterday. I’d also like to remark great support from the U.S. We are peaceful people, but we also need to protect ourselves.

The diplomat also said his country will launch ground offensives in near future: “Our preparations for this are underway. If somebody hits you, will you bend your head down or fight back? You will fight back. Nevertheless, we are still sending humanitarian aid, food, and drugs to Gaza. Which country in the world is sending food and aid to its enemy? We are fighting Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, not the people of Palestine”.

The ambassador mentioned that the situation has aggravated even more after 3 Israeli youths were killed by Hamas: “In fact, media is distorting the truth about it. Because Hamas were shooting missiles over Israel before the youths were kidnapped and killed. But later on, they started shooting missiles more frequently. While they used to shoot one missile over Israel per day, CNN, for instance, used to overlook that information, because it was less important to them. Azerbaijani media didn’t stress these incidents either. There’s no need to investigate the death of those three youths as well, because it’s no secret that they were killed by Hamas. Only Hamas could have done it. Hamas kills children right after capturing them. We know that, and there’s no need to investigate”.

The ambassador said Israel forewarns civilians of the sites to be bombed: “Hamas, however, is not thinking about Palestinians when launching rockets and missiles. Hamas fires missiles at schools, hospitals, hotels, and residential areas without any distinctio