Israel's 'Never Again' Dilemma | Opinion

The deadly attacks committed by Hamas on innocent Israeli citizens has led many people from around the world to harken back to the lessons of the Holocaust and question if we have truly learned from the past. Afterall, the attacks on Oct. 7 were the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Shoah. It should be no surprise then that this latest chapter in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has evoked painful memories of the Holocaust and how the Jewish people continue to live in the shadow of that unspeakable crime.

For Armenians around the world, they too, fully understand what it's like to live in constant fear and under the threat of neighbors who seek to wipe them off the map. Last month, Azerbaijan completed its campaign to ethnically cleanse more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians from their ancestral homeland of Nagorno-Karabakh, which followed months of wanton attacks by Azeri forces and a nine-month road blockade that Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, called a "genocide."

And like the Jewish people, Armenians see these latest acts of aggression by Azerbaijan as a threat to their very existence and a continuation of the Armenian genocide of 1915, when more than 1.5 million Armenians were systematically exterminated by the Ottoman Turks.

There are many parallels between what is happening in the Middle East and what took place against Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh. In both circumstances, the attacks were stark reminders that the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide continue to define both groups of people.

But while these analogies are seemingly appropriate, the international community was quick to act in helping Israel and condemning Hamas, in which horrific crimes were committed but a genocide didn't take place, while essentially ignoring Armenians who were the victims of an actual genocide and turning a blind eye toward Azerbaijan.

This disparity in attention and accountability further suggests that these types of crimes and injustices are treated differently.

No more has this been evident than in the way the Biden administration has managed both conflicts. For more than three years, Biden failed to keep Azerbaijan in check by waiving Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which bans foreign aid to Baku despite their ongoing violations of human rights. President Joe Biden stayed mostly silent on the issue, turning to his State Department to issue hollow statements that blamed both sides.

Biden's indifference was a complete reversal as a candidate for president, when he released a powerful statement on Oct. 13, 2020, criticizing Azerbaijan and called out the Trump administration for their passive approach to the conflict.

And it only took a humanitarian crisis for Biden to finally act but by then it was too little, too late as he only pledged $11.5 million in assistance for the 120,000 Armenian refugees, or a little under $100 per person, after they were forced to leave their homes.

Compare that figure to the more than $100 billion Biden has requested for Israel and Ukraine, and his ironclad support for Tel Aviv and Kyiv's security.

To be clear, Armenians are not calling for the United States to rebuff Israel or Ukraine, as both countries deserve our unwavering support. But they want the U.S. government to acknowledge the crimes and atrocities that have been inflicted upon the Armenian people and for human rights abusers like Azerbaijan to be reprimanded, and not rewarded. In Biden's world, the scales of international justice tilt in favor for some at the expense of others.

And what makes both conflicts so perplexing is that Israel, a country founded in the wake of a genocide, is currently supporting Azerbaijan in their genocidal campaign against Armenians. Israel is providing Azerbaijan with ballistic missiles, air defense and electronic warfare systems, kamikaze drones and more.

For years, Israel has seen Azerbaijan as a key ally when it comes to geopolitics because of its close proximity to Iran, and its dependence on Azeri oil, which accounts for roughly 40 percent of its fossil fuel consumption.

But all these considerations are inconsequential when it comes to human rights.

There is a double standard when we hear Tel Aviv say "Never Again," knowing that they are aiding and abetting a country that stands against the very essence of that ethos. In many ways, it devalues the meaning of the message and perpetuates a cycle of unending violence.

If there is a lesson to be learned from the current crisis in the Middle East and Nagorno-Karabakh, it is that all human lives matter and that political expediency is no substitute for human rights. Put simply, Israel's complicity with Azerbaijan sends the wrong message to would-be aggressors and bad actors, including Hamas.

Until Israel makes amends with its troubling relationship with Azerbaijan, they'll continue to be on the wrong side of history. They must decide which side they want to be on—the tormentor, or the tormented? Only then will they genuinely be able to uphold the true meaning of "Never Again."

Stephan Pechdimaldji is a communications strategist who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He's a first-generation Armenian American and grandson to survivors of the Armenian genocide.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.