YEREVAN. – Israeli media have been recently much focused on country's ties with Azerbaijan. Relations between Israel and Azerbaijan had been covered earlier as well, but the visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Baku stirred Israeli newspaper's attention to Baku, not always a positive one.
Richard Kauzlarich, Center for Energy Science and Policy (CESP), Distinguished Visiting Professor Schar School of Policy and Government George Mason University and former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, one of the reasons is there is fierce competition between the Israeli media outlets which sometimes leads to misinformation.
“The vibrant Israeli press often got their facts wrong in their efforts to scoop their competitors,” he told Armenian News-NEWS.am.
The climax of Israel’s media attention to Azerbaijan was a scandalous article published by Maariv, which alleged that Azerbaijan asked an Israeli company to demonstrate the capabilities of an armed drone on Armenian target. Moreover, Israeli defense ministry said they are checking the reports.
In his diplomatic service, Richard Kauzlarich spent three years at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv where he headed the economic section. The professor said experience showed that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) rarely confirmed or denied press speculation such as you referred to.
“The only reliable source on such matters is the spokesperson for the IDF,” he explained.
According to professor, the latest attention of Israeli press to Azerbaijan is related to several factors.
“The recent visit of Prime Minister Netanyahu to Baku was widely covered. There are also allegations of Netanyahu corrupt behavior may have stimulated press interest in possible foreign connections to that corruption. Finally, the sentence of the Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin to three years in an Azerbaijani jail could have increased media attention to Israeli-Azerbaijan relations,” he said.
