YEREVAN. – In March newly appointed Ambassador of Israel to Armenia EliyahuYerushalmi handed over his credentials to President SerzhSargsyan and Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Papikyan. In an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am Ambassador spoke about Karabakh issue, relations with Armenia’s neighbors and the possibility of operating direct flights between the countries.

Has Israel changed its position on the Karabakh conflict? How would you assess development of Armenia-Israel relations given that Israel is selling weapons to Azerbaijan?

First of all, let me say that in many ways Jewish and Armenians are very similar and have much in common. We have great Diaspora, and we have many people live outside their country. There is a certain closeness between Armenians and Jews. As to the future plans, Israeli high ranking minister will be visiting Armenia, and I hope in July we will have all agreements finalized. We will continue cooperating in terms of international assistance to Armenia, economic relations, tourism, direct flights, and relations on parliamentary level.

Now about Karabakh. We want to see you living in peace, and our policy is that peace between you and your neighbor has to be based on the Minsk Group. Anything that will be decided for the good of your nations is fine for us. The most important thing is that you have peace in the region, and Armenia could live in peace.

As to the sales of weapons, naturally Israel does not comment about this issue.The issue was raised during my meetings in Yerevan and will probably be discussed in future consultations.

The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee has recognized the Armenian Genocide. Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein also supported the idea of acknowledging the Armenian Genocide and repeatedly urged the government to do so. What do you think prevents the Israeli government from acknowledging the fact?

The Armenian tragedy is something that is always on our mind. Israel cannot say what we think happened there because it is a historical issue between you and Turkey. We will go with anything that you and Turkey decide. But it is always on our mind, we went through a tragedy of tremendous proportions. I was at museum in Yerevan when I visited, and it looked very much the same as YadVashem, museum of Holocaust in Israel. Like on the issue of Karabakh, between you and Azerbaijan, we have to abide by what you and the other side decide.

The launch of Yerevan- Tel-Aviv flights contributed to the growth in tourism. Will the flights resume?  Is there any formal data on the number of tourists traveling from Israel to Armenia and vice versa?

We believe that there is a tremendous potential. We already signed a few agreements. The direct flight will start may be even this summer. In Georgia there are over 100 thousand Israeli tourists every year. Ihope that during my time as an ambassador to Armenia we will also havethis. Israelis are looking for new tourists spots.Armenia has a tremendous potential for Israelitourism, and Yerevan is a super city for Israelis.I think Israelis would love Armenia, and it is also very close, only two-hour flight. I do not have figures, but I think as soon as the direct flights start, we will sell tourist packages to each other.

Last December Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The visit was described by media as a “historic”. What is Israel’s main interest in the development of ties with these Eurasian countries?

Eurasia is very important to Israel and is geographically close to our region. Since the Soviet Union broke apart, we had a lot of interest in Eurasia. We have economic issues, the issues of Jewish community living in different countries. And, of course, Armenia is included in all this. Basically, our hope is that our relations with the whole region will just increase.

My question comes in the context that your PM wasvisiting in particular Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

During my first visit to Armenia I made it clear that our relations are only about relations between Armenia and Israel, and they have nothing to do with the relations with the other countries. We are looking first of all into increasing bilateral and multilateral formats, nothing to do with anything else. I have personal interest as an ambassador. I really want to work on relations with Armenia. I grew up in U.S., and when we came back to Israel, I went to my aunt. She lived in an apartment which was rented from Armenians, and there were many Armenian people in that building. I have never heard about them before and I learned from my aunt who the Armenians are. In all countries all over the world I met Armenians, I have a very special feeling towards Armeniaand I will work hard to strengthen the relations between our nations.