Armenians Blame Jews for Moscow Massacre, ‘The Same Way They Murdered 70,000 Persians on Purim’

By Hamodia Staff

Despite the handful of Jews living in Armenia, antisemitism is once again rearing its ugly head in the country, and after the country’s only synagogue was set on fire several times, most recently now ahead of Pesach, the Jews are being blamed for everything, as has been the tradition for thousands of years. This time the Jews have been blamed for the massacre that occurred several weeks ago in Moscow.

As widely reported, more than three months ago a group of neo-Nazis marched across Armenia’s capital city, Yerevan, bearing flags with stylized swastikas, chanting insults, calling for Jews to be expelled, and shouting praise to Hitler.

Jewish leaders blame the police for not putting a stop to the march or summoning its participants for questioning. In the same way, no one was arrested for attempting to set fire to the only synagogue in the country. According to media reports, a group calling itself the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia threatened to attack Rabbis and Israelis all over the world, and praised Hamas and Hezbollah following the massacre of Oct. 7.

The severe incident of attempted arson on the only synagogue in Armenia by local antisemitic elements was the second in weeks. The war in Gaza has been acting as a catalyst for waves of antisemitism; however, according to numerous reports, the prevailing context is, in fact, the support Israel has been providing to Azerbaijan, Armenia’s sworn adversary, who recently returned the Karabakh region to Armenia.

Yet organizations battling against the hatred for Israel have emphasized that the country has become a malignant phenomenon, and only recently did the Hosank group, who organized the march in Yerevan, begin to spread outdated antisemitic theories on their social media channel, claiming that the recent terror attack in Moscow was carried out by Jews. Their reasoning was that Jews always have a custom to carry out terror attacks on Purim, to commemorate the slaughter of 75,000 by their ancestors some 2,500 years ago.

One of Armenia’s senior officials, Vladimir Poghosyan, a veteran of Armenia’s special services force, who currently heads the political movement, Committee 27, recently appeared on his social media channel with his colleagues with incitements to murder and bloodshed while appealing for assistance to Hamas in their killing of Jews. They were cited as calling to Armenians in Jerusalem to fight against Israel. Likewise, he expressed joy in his written reports on social media that the Iranians will soon be obliterating Israel.

Following the horrifying massacre in Israel, the same official stated, “The world community has to deny Israel’s right to an army, nuclear weapons, and so on, since they do not cease the killing of women and children. The world has to take control of Israel, which needs to be under the command of international forces.”

One of the main targets facing the arrows of Armenian propaganda is Israel’s Minster of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir. Poghosyan claims that Ben Gvir is the person behind businessmen attempting to begin construction in the Armenian quarter of the Old City of Yerushalayim and evict the community.

The Armenian ambassador to Israel, who explained to the Russian-Israeli media site Detaly about the events taking place in Yerushalayim and the alarming rise of antisemitism in Armenia, according to a report from the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, said in an interview, “The Israelis closed down an Armenian restaurant in the Old City of Yerushalayim, attacked representatives of the Armenian clergy, and they spit on Armenian priests. Not all Israelis commit these acts; they are mostly religious Jews, and the Israeli police does nothing to prevent it.”

In the same interview, the ambassador also accused the police of “remaining [as] bystanders and observing the abuse of Armenians by yeshivah students on the side, and even when the police respond, they respond when it is too late.” Accordingly, the Israeli response is that the rioters are people who are “mentally unstable” and are not to be taken seriously. In reference to the idle accusations he himself cast, he said, “I am sorry, but if these people are mentally unstable, why are they permitted to wander around freely in the Old City?”

He furthermore stated that “the sharp increase in attacks on Christians in Jerusalem occurred at the beginning of 2023, following the rise to power of the right wing led by Ben Gvir and Smotrich, in an extremist government.”

The office of Minister Itamar Ben Gvir responded, saying, “Ben-Gvir is blamed for everything. It’s just as well he’s not blamed for the sunshine and the rain. There has been no increase in attacks on Christians in Yerushalayim. This is spin.”

In the shadow of the horrifying rise in antisemitism and aggression against the local Jews and Israel, the Jews of Armenia’s neighboring country, Azerbaijan, are completing their preparations for the upcoming Pesach. The local community will also take care of their Jewish brothers in Armenia, including deliveries of food that is kosher l’Pesach.