Day: November 15, 2023

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev with Israeli Ambassador George Deek, December 2019 (Wikimedia Commons)

When I first heard that Israel’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan, George Deek, is an Armenian, I thought it couldn’t be true. However, I was astonished to find out that it is. As Mark Twain said: “Truth is stranger than fiction!”

Long before he became Israel’s Ambassador to Baku, Deek, in April 2015, tweeted a Facebook link with the message: “My father’s grandmother’s name was Antaraan Hambarian, an Armenian. She is a survivor of the Armenian tragedy of…”



The Facebook link was significant because it referred to an April 12, 2015 article titled: “Turkey angry at pope after ‘genocide’ remarks.” So Deek was aware that there was an Armenian Genocide, his father’s grandmother was a survivor of that Genocide, and her name was Antaraan Hamparian, even though he misspelled her first name which was most probably Antaram.

After Deek became Israel’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan in 2019, several Armenians angrily criticized him for referring to the Armenian Genocide as a ‘tragedy’ in his 2015 tweet. Here are some of the disparaging replies: “Will you survive betrayal of your ancestors?” “She would be proud of you… serving two countries actively denying the very thing that robbed her of her own family.” “Probably she would be greatly ashamed of you.” “Your poor grandmother is turning in her grave, sorry you condone ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and genocide.” “I can’t believe you have Armenian roots! SHAME ON YOU 1,500,000 times then, for SUPPORTING TERRORISTS Azerbaijan and Turkey! IT’S A SHAME FOR US THAT YOU HAVE ARMENIAN BLOOD IN YOUR VEINS!” “Your great grandmother will spit on your face if she would hear what you say!”

On Sept. 30, 2021, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) posted on its Facebook page: “Most shameful diplomatic appointment in the history of diplomacy. Genocide survivor state Israel sending George Deek (a self-described ethnic Armenian descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors) as its ambassador to Azerbaijan, a country openly working to complete this crime.”

In July 2021, Deek angered Armenians again by tweeting: “Together with the diplomatic corps in Azerbaijan, I had the historic privilege of being the first Israeli Ambassador to visit the remarkable city of Shusha,” a noteworthy Armenian town captured by Azerbaijan during the 2020 war.

In an interview with The Times of Israel on January 13, 2023, Amb. Deek described himself as ‘an Arab and an Israeli.’ His father was an Orthodox Christian of mixed Armenian and Palestinian roots. Here is an excerpt from that interview:

The Times of Israel: “When you meet Azeris and they discover you’re an Arab Christian, what kind of reactions do you get?”

Amb. Deek: “Naturally, it’s surprising and confusing for most Azeris. The sense of surprise is great for helping me explain about the diversity of Israeli society. But frankly, at this point, I’ve stopped correcting them because it gets tiring. It’s still funny when on December 24, they still wish me a Happy Hanukkah rather than Merry Christmas.”

The Times of Israel: “As an Israeli Christian, what’s your perspective on the Armenian community – which consists mainly of fellow Israeli Christians – and the challenges they face in Israel, both in connection with the Jerusalem-Baku relationship and with other non-related issues?”

Amb. Deek: “I have deep sympathy for the Armenian community in Israel, and specifically in Jaffa, where I grew up. We share the same faith and many cultural traditions. Many of my friends from school and from youth movements are Armenian. I had teachers who influenced me immensely who are Armenian, and I consider them as close friends.”

On January 5, 2023, the Azeri Caliber.az website quoted the following declaration by Amb. Deek: “Israel is proposing its assistance to Azerbaijan in the setting up of ‘smart cities’ in Armenian districts occupied by Azerbaijan.”

On January 12, 2023, Amb. Deek was interviewed on-camera by Caliber.az for a story titled, “Beyond the visible: Excavating the depths of Israeli-Azerbaijani ties with Ambassador George Deek.”

Amb. Deek made the following alarming statement: “The most important event is when Azerbaijan entered the second Karabakh war and we [Israel] have been here standing shoulder to shoulder with our partner and friend Azerbaijan. Our strategic cooperation continued and intensified during that period but also on the humanitarian field. The fact that I took the risk to go to Ganja in the middle of the attacks on the city and to talk to the local community, to meet them, to provide humanitarian support with equipment like basic things from blankets and heaters and so on to people who lost their homes and everything they could. And I think that created also the connection in the hearts, not just in the minds, so I think the second Karabakh war showed Azerbaijan what we mean when we say friend, what we mean when we say partner. For us these are not empty words of diplomats…. These are things that come from the heart and they actually have a strong meaning for us…. Israel’s position has been clear about the Karabakh issue for a long time. Israel supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. It has done so in words and in deeds before the second Karabakh war and after the second Karabakh war.”

He also wrongly added that “practically, the Arab-Israeli conflict is basically over.” Amb. Deek not only does not have respect for his Armenian heritage, he also has no respect for his Palestinian heritage. He must have sold his soul to the devil for his job.

The most astounding aspect of Amb. Deek’s appointment is that Israel’s Foreign Ministry officials sent an envoy with an Armenian background to Azerbaijan! Despite Amb. Deek’s effusive words about Azerbaijan, I doubt if Pres. Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan fully trust him. In Azerbaijan, they have nothing but hatred and contempt for any Armenian, even those who are partly Armenian.

Hackers respaldados por el gobierno de la India intentaron instalar el programa espía Pegasus, de la firma israelí NSO Group, en el iPhone de un periodista indio que trabajaba para el Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) en agosto de este año, según declaraciones del cofundador de la organización, retomadas por la agencia de noticias Reuters.

El Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project es una red mundial de periodistas de investigación, conocida por documentaciones periodísticas de alto perfil sobre temas de corrupción y delincuencia organizada en distintos puntos del mundo, como los Panama Papers, famosa filtración de datos ocurrida en 2016 que expuso los negocios de políticos y empresarios internacionales. 

Anand Mangnale fue uno de los periodistas de la India que la semana pasada recibieron alertas de Apple advirtiéndoles que habían sido blanco de un ataque “patrocinado por el Estado”, el cual intentaba acceder a distancia a sus dispositivos iPhone. Las notificaciones no identificaban al gobierno que estaba detrás de los hackeos ni el software espía utilizado. 

La reciente ronda de alertas de Apple alcanzó a más de 20 personas en la India, la mayoría de ellas personas pertenecientes a la oposición política, lo que desató una nueva ola de acusaciones señalando que el gobierno está utilizando la herramientas de espionaje contra la ciudadanía, a pocos meses del inicio de las elecciones nacionales en el país asiático. 

Una investigación forense posterior a la llegada de las notificaciones vinculó la intrusión al teléfono de Mangnale con el software espía Pegasus. Este programa permite acceder a los teléfonos inteligentes de sus víctimas para obtener información sensible como la grabación de sus llamadas, activación de cámara, intercepción de mensajes o poder transformar los teléfonos en dispositivos portátiles de escucha. 

“Sea cual sea el gobierno que espía a los periodistas, no hay ninguna explicación plausible para ello que no sea el beneficio político”, afirmó Drew Sullivan de la OCCRP.

iVerify, empresa encargada de revisar el dispositivo de Anand Mangnale, afirmó haber encontrado un patrón de bloqueo sospechoso que coincidía con intrusiones de Pegasus conocidas anteriormente, lo que les llevó a afirmar que el teléfono había sido atacado con dicho software. 

Existen diversas denuncias recientes de espionaje con el software Pegasus, como el caso de la periodista independiente rusa, Galina Timchenko, quien fue infectada en febrero de este año, antes de sostener reuniones con los principales medios de comunicación independientes rusos en el exilio. Se sospecha que esta infección pudo haber sido utilizada para monitorear las conversaciones privadas que se dieron durante esa reunión.

Sumadas a las denuncias presentadas en otras partes del mundo, en nuestro país también se han documentado casos de espionaje ilegal en contra de periodistas, personas de la clase política y personas defensoras de derechos humanos, los cuales están aún en total impunidad.

YEREVAN—Atop a high hill, just west of Yerevan’s old city, stands a stark, deeply affecting monument marking the Ottoman Empire’s 1915 genocide of 1.5 million Armenians. The world Armenia inhabits is once again taking on a tragic color: Last month, to what might charitably described as a muted international response, Azerbaijan, Turkey’s closest ally in the region, achieved its long-cherished goal of ridding the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave of its ancient Christian community after a 9-month blockade that deprived its 120,000 residents of food, fuel, and medical supplies.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Raphael Lemkin, a law professor and refugee from Nazi-occupied Europe, through a tremendous force of will, conceived, wrote, and lobbied the United Nations to adopt the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Lemkin, who invented the term genocide, defined it as “a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.” 

What happened to the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh is undoubtedly then a case of genocide by the longtime Islamist dictator of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. And while pushed from the minds of policymakers in Washington thanks to recent events in Gaza, last week GOP hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy was one of the few candidates running for president to acknowledge that what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh is “probably the most under-appreciated atrocity in the world.” 

And he’s not wrong: the Biden administration, distracted by its various and sundry overseas projects, including funding and overseeing a war against nuclear-armed Russia in Ukraine and now aiding and abetting the Israeli war on Gaza, met the news with a few strong statements and not much else.

Yet there seems more to come for Armenia—and little interest in the West in doing anything to prevent it.

The next target of Aliyev’s is likely the southern Armenian province of Syunik, which, if taken by force, as seems to be the plan, would create a land corridor (also known as the Zangezur Corridor) that would connect Azerbaijan proper to its western Nakhchivan enclave. Nakhchivan borders Turkey, and thus would create a profitable connection between the two allies.

It isn’t as if Azerbaijan and its powerful Turkish patron are making any secret of their plan to invade and annex sovereign Armenian territory. In December 2022, Aliyev flatly proclaimed that “present-day Armenia is our land.” The months that followed he went on to declare that “we are implementing the Zangezur corridor, whether Armenia likes it or not.” For his part, Aliyev’s patron, the Islamist Erdogan, praised the ethnic cleansing, describing it as “an operation” that was “completed in a short period of time, with utmost sensitivity to the rights of civilians.”

Things are already underway. Riding a wave of oil revenue, Azerbaijan, which has boosted defense spending to $3.1 billion, is steadily and not-so-stealthily advancing across Armenia’s eastern border. 

In any case, it seems likely they’ll get away with it when the time comes. Why? As Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the first chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, recently explained,

Azerbaijan is an ally with the West against Iran; it provides energy to Europe and it spends millions on sophisticated Israeli weapons. But such exigencies must not get in the way of the world’s responsibility to stop what is happening before its very eyes: the Armenian genocide of 2023.

As if that weren’t enough, Armenia has been cursed with pusillanimous leadership in the form of a Soros-backed politician named Nikol Pashinyan. Pashinyan, who has served as prime minister since 2018, has what might be described as an almost “Anti-Midas” touch. In the space of five years he has managed to alienate his country’s principal great power supporter, Russia, all the while signaling weakness towards Armenia’s revanchist neighbors, resulting in the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh and very likely, more to come. Dr. Pietro Sharakrian, a postdoctoral fellow at the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, put it starkly: “Pashinyan’s premiership has been a disaster for the Armenian people.”

There exists, more worryingly still, the possibility of a wider regional war should Azerbaijan roll into Syunik. For one, Iran has expressed opposition to such a move and if Russia wraps up its war in Ukraine, the possibility exists that they will be freed up to step in as well. So one shouldn’t rule out a collision involving the major players in the region: Russia, Iran and Turkey.

Sadly, the cruel vicissitudes of history and politics are not yet finished with Armenia.

A bizarre scandal involving potentially illegal campaign contributions from Turkish citizens has New York City Mayor Eric Adams playing defense after the FBI seized some of his electronic devices.

“This is an ongoing review,” Adams said at a Tuesday morning press conference. “And as a former member of law enforcement, it is always my view, always my belief, don’t interfere with an ongoing review and don’t try to do these reviews through the press.”

Adams, a Democrat who was elected in 2021, has not personally been accused of wrongdoing. However, his phone and tablet were taken by the FBI last week after agents climbed into his SUV following a speech. CNN has reported that the FBI is looking into whether Adams’s campaign conspired with a Brooklyn construction company to funnel money from Turkish nationals toward his mayoral bid.

Additionally, the New York Times reported Sunday that authorities were looking into whether Adams had pressured the New York Fire Department into giving a new Turkish consulate in Manhattan an occupancy permit despite safety concerns about the high-rise building.

Following Adams’s conversation with the then fire commissioner, the gleaming new building near the U.N. was approved. Underscoring the importance of the sprawling consulate to the Turkish government, the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, attended its grand opening in September 2021.

When asked Tuesday about his discussion with the fire department, Adams said he reached out on behalf of his constituents, which is something he does every day.

“You reach out to an agency and ask them to look into a matter, you don’t reach out to an agency to compel them to do anything,” Adams said.

The Adams campaign also reportedly took donations from three members of a foundation started by Erdogan’s son that also has Erdogan’s daughter on the board. According to The City, a local paper, Adams’s campaign accepted $6,000 from several U.S. citizens on the foundation’s board.

Some of the mayor’s allies have insisted that there’s nothing unusual about Adams making calls on the Turkish consulate’s behalf.

“I don’t think that should be a smoking gun,” former Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr. told the New York Post. “I don’t see any issue at all. Every elected official makes calls to city agencies on behalf of entities, businesses and constituents. That is what we do.”

The raid

As part of the investigation, the FBI raided the home of Adams’s chief fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, on Nov. 2. Adams canceled previously scheduled meetings in Washington, D.C., “to deal with a matter,” per a spokesman, with the mayor later saying he “wanted to be back in the city to make sure that things were stable.”

According to the search warrant, among the items seized at Suggs’s home were three iPhones, two laptop computers, a “manila folder labeled Eric Adams,’’ seven “contribution card binders” and other documents.

The NYPD Internal Affairs unit ordered a “wellness check” at the home of Suggs hours before the raid. The police said in a statement that the move was “part of the working relationships the NYPD maintains with federal law enforcement agencies … before warrants are executed to ensure that addresses are correct and that there will be no danger to anyone residing inside.”

The mayor’s Turkey ties

Adams has spoken about his affection for Turkey. He even had a brief cameo in the 2017 rom-com New York Masal (which translates to “Fairytale of New York”). The then Brooklyn borough president interacts with two of the lead characters, telling them he doesn’t speak Turkish before saying how much he loves their country.

“Brooklyn loves Turkey,” Adams says in the film. “Brooklyn is the Istanbul of America. We love your food, we love your music, but I don’t understand Turkish. We can take a selfie, though.”

Adams repeated a version of that line during a Turkish flag-raising ceremony last month, saying, “New York City is the Istanbul of America.” He began that event by saying, “I’m probably the only mayor in the history of this city that has not only visited Turkey once, but I think I’m on my sixth or seventh visit to Turkey.”

A rocky tenure as New York’s mayor

In July, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the indictments of six people for an alleged “straw donor” scheme meant to help Adams get elected. Straw donors are people who donate other people’s money under their own name in an effort to get around campaign finance laws.

Neither Adams nor any members of his team were mentioned in the filing, in which the alleged fraudsters attempted to max out their donations in exchange for political favors.

In September, former Department of Buildings Commissioner and Adams confidant Eric Ulrich was charged with exchanging access and favors for cash and gifts. Bragg wrote in a letter to the court that “Ulrich was intercepted between November 4, 2021, and November 1, 2022, on an almost daily basis engaging in conduct antithetical to his oath of office.”

Adams has found himself attached to controversies and strange stories since his 2021 mayoral campaign. During that race, there was confusion about where exactly he lived, with allegations that he resided in New Jersey. Adams has claimed he is vegan despite regularly eating fish, said that New York has a “special energy” because it sits above rare gems and stones and has expressed his belief that Gracie Mansion, where the mayor typically resides, is haunted.