Analysis
Azerbaijan’s case for joining the Abraham Accords
A Shia-majority country with a thriving Jewish population, Azerbaijan is a template for the Muslim world
May 2, 2025 10:57
2 min read
A Shia-majority country with a thriving Jewish population, Azerbaijan is a template for the Muslim world
May 2, 2025 10:57Growing up in Cairo, I thought coexistence between Muslims and Jews was a thing of the past. The 1,000-year-old Basatin Jewish cemetery lay across from my school, its crumbling stones a silent testament to a vanished community. Egypt’s Jewish population, which numbered some 80,000 in the 1940s, had by 2020 dwindled to fewer than ten people.
The collapse was driven by Gamal Abdel Nasser’s pan-Arabist regime, which weaponised Islamist and ultranationalist antisemitism as state policy. My education and upbringing dripped with venom: Textbooks depicted Jews as conspiratorial “Zionist invaders”, while state media and the clergy recycled tropes of Jewish greed and disloyalty.
I believed such hatred was innate – until I met Rabbi Zamir Isayev, Chief Rabbi of Azerbaijan and Chairman of Baku’s Sephardi Jewish Community. In Azerbaijan, a Muslim-majority nation, Jews thrive not as a tolerated minority but as equal citizens. Isayev’s pride in Azerbaijan’s pluralism – and the tangible respect he commanded – rewired my understanding of what coexistence could achieve.
Azerbaijan is a mandate for the Middle East’s future. A Shia-majority nation with 30,000 Jews, it hosts synagogues, kosher restaurants, and state-funded Jewish schools. When Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited in May 2023, President Ilham Aliyev declared Jews “dear citizens”, a sentiment enshrined in policies protecting minority rights.
The tolerance for its own Jewish citizens underpins Azerbaijan’s deep partnership with Israel. Aliyev has compared this relationship to an iceberg, with visible cooperation on energy and security – Azerbaijan supplies 60% of Israel’s oil and imports 69% of its arms from Israel – sitting atop a deep, largely hidden foundation of trust, intelligence sharing and shared strategic interests.
But unlike Egypt and other Arab states, whose covert dealings with Israel are buried under layers of denial and antisemitic incitement, Azerbaijan has no need to hide. By joining the Abraham Accords, it could transform its quiet alliance into a proud blueprint for Muslim-Jewish partnership, proving that normalisation is not betrayal but progress.
Azerbaijan’s inclusion in the Abraham Accords would normalise normalisation itself, transforming the process from a diplomatic novelty into a sustainable precedent. This would resuscitate the fading momentum for Jewish-Muslim coexistence, offering Israel a vital lifeline to reclaim its moral and strategic footing after the horrors of October 7 and the devastating war against Hamas.
For Israel, welcoming Azerbaijan – a Shia-majority, Turkic nation – into the Abraham Accords would break the Sunni Arab monopoly on normalisation, demonstrating that pragmatic ties transcend sectarian divides. Azerbaijan’s secular pluralism shows how a Muslim-majority country can maintain strong Islamic traditions while celebrating its Jewish history, rejecting the false choice between identity and tolerance.
This would also isolate Iran. The Islamic regime’s influence is already constrained in the South Caucasus by Azerbaijan’s joint energy projects and intelligence-sharing with Israel. Formalising these ties would amplify their deterrent effect, while also demonstrating a more constructive way for a Shia-majority nation to engage with Israel.
Economically, deeper energy ties would benefit both markets while incentivising other energy-rich Muslim countries to follow suit; and Azerbaijan joining the Abraham Accords could persuade the US to lift its Section 907 sanctions, unlocking greater bilateral trade and defence cooperation.
The UAE’s success under the Accords – $3 billion in trade with Israel, interfaith initiatives, and a booming Jewish community – proves that pragmatism can triumph over dogma. Azerbaijan’s history of tolerance shows that it should also be welcomed into this pact, bringing benefits to all concerned.
As Rabbi Zamir told me: “Hatred is a choice. So is tolerance.” The Abraham Accords were designed to heal, not divide. By welcoming Azerbaijan, the US and its allies can put another nail in the coffin of Jew-hatred in the Muslim world – and build a world where both Jews and Muslims flourish.
Khaled Hassan is an Egyptian-British national security and foreign policy researcher. His work focuses on digital threats, antisemitism in the Arab world, radicalisation, and disinformation, particularly in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict.