MembersMuslim Azerbaijan: Israel’s Eyes and Ears on Iran

Last week, I accompanied Ayoob Kara, who served as Israel’s Communication, Satellite and Cyber Minister in the Netanyahu government, on an expedition to Azerbaijan and the Karabakh region along the Iranian border, where unfortunately we ran into bus trouble and were stranded in a landmine-infested area for several hours. But that did not deter us, and we continued our journey along the Iranian border on a different bus, from which we could see Iran, although it was too dangerous for us to stop take a longer look.

From an Israeli perspective, visiting the Iranian-Azerbaijani border is of great importance as Azerbaijan plays a pivotal role in Israel’s struggle against the mullahs in Tehran. In fact, one could even say that Azerbaijan serves as Israel’s eyes and ears on Tehran. Azerbaijan has its own troubles with Iran and shares an extensive border with the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long history of repressing ethnic Azeris (or Azerbaijanis). In fact, an Azerbaijani official told us anonymously that the Iranian government used to pay...