Former Israeli minister: There is one place in world where it is safe to be Jewish - Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan can serve as a model of a multicultural society where Jews are free from persecution, said an article titled "A place where there is no antisemitism" published in the popular US publication Jewish News Syndicate, Report informs.

The article by Israel's former minister of communications Ayoob Kara shows that according to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitism is at a record high in the United States, with a 36% increase in antisemitic incidents compared to the previous year, the situation in Europe and much of the Islamic world is even worse:

"Articles like this, accompanied by antisemitic sermons given by clergy, antisemitic books and TV series, antisemitism on social media, and so on, lead to antisemitic violence against Israelis. See, for example, the recent terror attack in Beit Ummar, where three Israeli soldiers were wounded; the Iranian plot to attack Jews and Israelis in Athens, which was luckily thwarted; and the earlier terror attacks in Huwara and Tel Aviv.

"In the West, antisemitic indoctrination has led to attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh, California, and Texas. In Europe, it led to an attack on a synagogue in Germany and the murder of innocent Jewish civilians in France. It is important to note that such indoctrination is not confined to the radical Islamist world in the Middle East. It is common among radical Muslims in the West, far-right neo-Nazis, and the far-left."

He wrote that however, there is one place in the world where it is safe to be Jewish and these kinds of things do not happen-Azerbaijan:

"Azerbaijan is the only country where synagogues remain unlocked at night. It is one of the few places in the world where religious Jews feel free to walk the streets in religious garb without fear of harassment. Many might find it hard to believe that Azerbaijan is one of the few places in the world where Jews live in complete freedom and are not condemned to live in fear of the next terror attack or antisemitic incident. But when I was in Azerbaijan, I met with Rabbi Zamir Isayev, who told me that antisemitism is alien to Azerbaijani culture.

"To eliminate antisemitism, we should all learn from the Azerbaijanis how to build a successful multicultural society. They have succeeded in creating a place where there is no antisemitism, where people celebrate Passover, Easter, and Novruz in unison and celebrate rather than persecute others."