This is as part of the effort to strengthen the partnership and coordination between the US, Israel and Azerbaijan on regional issues.

Israel coordinated the visit.

About a month ago, the special advisor to the President of Azerbaijan, Hikmet Hajiyev, visited Israel and met with Prime Minister Netanyahu. The two discussed regional issues concerning relations with Turkey and coordination regarding what is happening in Syria.

Azerbaijan is trying to bridge the gap between Israel and Turkey, given the historical developments in Syria and Erdogan's great influence on what is happening in the country.

It should be noted that after the meeting with Netanyahu, Advisor Hajiyev flew to official meetings in Turkey.

Israel recently announced an effort to establish trilateral cooperation between it, the US and Azerbaijan.

On March 5, in response to a Knesset agenda proposal by MK Simon Moshiashvili (Shas) calling on Israel to act to include Azerbaijan in the Abraham Accords and strengthen cooperation in the region, Minister Struck responded on behalf of the Prime Minister that “Israel is conducting an ongoing dialogue with the US on these issues, out of a desire to deepen regional cooperation and establish a solid foundation for trilateral cooperation between Israel, Azerbaijan and the US.”

According to Minister Struck, “These ties are consistent with Israel’s broader regional policy, which includes strengthening alliances in the region and building bridges with other Muslim countries.”

Minister Struck added that a negative response from Iran “does not change our commitment to deepening ties with our allies. Israel will continue to strengthen cooperation with Azerbaijan and the US, and will stand firm against any attempt to undermine it.”

At the same time, next week, the Azerbaijani Minister of Economy, Mikael Jabarov, will come to Israel. The guest will participate in a ceremony in which the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Eli Cohen, and the Minister of Petroleum Affairs, Chen Bar-Yosef, will award six licenses to the winning group in "Cluster I" as part of the fourth competitive process for natural gas exploration in Israeli waters.

The ceremony will take place after an Azerbaijani company recently acquired rights to the Tamar gas reservoir, as part of a significant geostrategic process of exporting Israeli gas to Europe through Turkey. 

The Azerbaijanis are allies of Turkey, whose relations with Israel are very tense. The Azerbaijanis are a conciliatory factor between the countries. 

In this spirit throughout the war, they continued to supply fuel to Israel through a pipeline that runs through Turkey. Now the Azerbaijanis are working to have Israeli gas sold to Europe through Turkey, and not Greece. 

This is despite the alliance that exists between Greece and Cyprus and Israel. As a reminder, this week Foreign Minister Gideon Saar visited Athens.

Photo: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu meeting in 2018

Source: Ariel Kahana - Telegram