Caucasus Analytical Digest: Baku was one of the major centres of origin of political Zionism in the 19th century

Published: 2025-11-22 13:48

"The intensive relations between the predominantly secular Shiite Azerbaijan and the Jewish state are often perceived as surprising by outsiders: Azerbaijani-Israeli relations, or rather Azerbaijani-Jewish relations, date back to the 5th century BC. Likewise, Baku was one of the major centres of origin of political Zionism at the end of the 19th century. In 1891, one of the first Zionist movements, ‘Havevei Zion’ (Lovers of Zion), was founded here," according to an article titled “About Icebergs and Abraham: The Strategic Partnership Between Azerbaijan and Israel on Course for the Abraham Accords”, published in the online journal Caucasus Analytical Digest (CAD).*

"Both states share an antipathy toward Iran, which was not only a strategic ally of Armenia during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but whose nuclear aspirations and its proxies in the Middle East also constitute an existential threat to Israel and moderate Arab states. It is often assumed that Azerbaijan and Israel conduct joint intelligence operations against Iran via the Azerbaijani-Iranian border. However, there is no substantial proof and Baku strongly denies such claims," the article stresses.

*Caucasus Analytical Digest (CAD) is a quarterly online publication jointly produced by the German Association for East European Studies (DGO), the Research Centre for East European Studies (FSO) at the University of Bremen, the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zürich, the Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC-Georgia), and the Center for Eastern European Studies (CEES) at the University of Zurich.

By Azerbaijani-Israeli Alliance Global News