RSS
US Jewish Lobby Promotes Azerbaijan, Only Muslim State Fighting Jew-Hatred

FILE PHOTO: Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev arrives for a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow, Russia May 25, 2023. Photo: Sputnik/Ilya Pitalev/Kremlin
i24 News – Jewish organizations in Washington, DC, held a forum in Congress, focusing on religious freedom in the Caucasus. The next day, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) reported that Azerbaijan has become the first Muslim-majority country to include a definition of antisemitism in its textbooks.
“Nobody in Azerbaijan is asking local Jews about double loyalty. The idea that building bridges between Baku and Jerusalem is not in the interests of the Azerbaijani nation is considered absurd,” noted Rabbi Zamir Isayev, chief rabbi of the Sephardi community of Baku, during a forum in the US Congress last week.
Isayev presented the case of Azerbaijan during the event, which focused on religious freedoms and tolerance in the Caucasus. He discussed the issues of security of the local Jewish community with representatives of the US Jewish organizations, stressing that the Azerbaijani government sees any threat to Jews as a threat to the state’s stability.
“Everybody knows that we have a very long border with Iran, which always tries to harm our schools and synagogues by sending proxies – foreigners and hired criminals,” Isayev said. “We never needed to ask the local secret service for additional security. They are highly professional and always provide additional protection even before we know that there is a threat. And the local population is very sympathetic to us. A Jew in a kippah can freely roam the streets. Azerbaijanis associate Jews with Israel, and Israel is considered an ally and a friend.”
He invited all the participants to visit Azerbaijan, asking US Representative Timothy M. Kennedy in particular to come and see the example of Judeo-Muslim symbiosis that Azerbaijan is setting for the Muslim world. Isayev quoted and distributed copies of a recent research paper by the Begin-Sadat Center, which analyzed the 30-year-long strategic alliance between Baku and Jerusalem.
As proof of Isayev’s words at the end of the week, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), a British nonprofit organization that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula around the world, published a report that stressed how Azerbaijan has become the first Muslim-majority country to include a definition of antisemitism in its textbooks. IMPACT-se examined 53 textbooks from Azerbaijan’s national curriculum, identifying the removal of anti-Israel narratives and the absence of Islamist rhetoric.
“Azerbaijan promotes the freedom of religion and tolerance, creating an open environment for all religions to flourish, including Judaism,” the study concluded. “Students are taught the value of tolerance and harmony in modern society, and examples of Jewish prayer and rituals are incorporated into the curriculum.”
The report highlighted that Judaism is “highly regarded in the textbooks,” and the books also correctly portray the Holocaust as a genocide of six million Jews, highlighting antisemitic measures such as arbitrary killings and imprisonment rather than trying to downplay or deny the Nazis’ atrocities.
“The textbooks demonstrate a clear rejection of the extreme Islamist values promoted by their near-neighbor Iran,” IMPACT–se CEO Marcus Sheff said, commenting on the report. “Instead, they promote tolerance, diversity, and a heartfelt respect for Jews and Israel, which serves as an important model for many other majority-Muslim states.”
In related news, a Jewish singer has been chosen to represent Azerbaijan in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Thirty-two-year-old Asaf (Sefael) Mishiev will be performing as part of his Baku-based band, Mamagama, in which he is the front man and soloist.
Mishiev is well known in Azerbaijan’s Jewish community – in 2013 he won a Mountain Jewish music competition, and he also reportedly gave singing lessons to children and teenagers at the Jewish Community Club in Baku.
The post US Jewish Lobby Promotes Azerbaijan, Only Muslim State Fighting Jew-Hatred first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.
RSS
Trump Urges NATO Countries to Halt Russian Oil Purchases

US President Donald Trump gestures during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Aug. 26, 2025. Photo: Jonathan Ernst via Reuters Connect
i24 News – US President Donald Trump issued a letter to NATO nations on Saturday, impressing upon them to stop purchasing Russian oil and impose major sanctions on the regime of Vladimir Putin to end its war in Ukraine.
“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA. As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” the message read.
“Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when? I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR. China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”
Trump’s post comes after the recent flight of multiple Russian drones into Poland, widely perceived an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of a NATO ally. Poland intercepted the drones, yet Trump played down the severity of the incident and Russia’s motives by saying it “could have been a mistake.”
RSS
Netanyahu Says Getting Rid of Hamas Chiefs in Qatar Would Remove Main Obstacle to Gaza Deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the US Independence Day reception, known as the annual “Fourth of July” celebration, hosted by Newsmax, in Jerusalem, Aug. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that getting rid of Hamas chiefs living in Qatar would remove the main obstacle to releasing all hostages and ending the war in Gaza.
Israel on Tuesday targeted the Hamas leadership in Doha.