PILOTED PROSESS AGAINST ISRAELI DRONES

Remember Miranda rights? It’s a typical warning often referred to by policemen in American movies: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court.” But it’s just a warning that the law enforcement officials are obliged to utter under the applicable laws of the United States. But sometimes remaining silent may pose big problems, not only for the suspect himself.

When silence is not wisdom

Had it not been for Israeli advocates Nati Simchony and Assaf Klein, perhaps nobody would ever know about this paradoxical and troublesome incident of international scale.

“It is with deep regret we became aware of the prosecutor's decision to indict the representatives of Aeronautics that worked for the company in 2017 (with Azerbaijan, R+). We believe that the decision is completely wrong and ungrounded. Prosecutor's Office should have supported our position and closed the case. Our clients are convinced of their innocence. We believe and hope that after the court trials, especially after the testimony of our client’s representatives, which will confirm the Aeronautics’ testimony, their innocence will be proven and all charges will be dropped,” Simchony and Klein wrote in the Israeli newspaper Globes.

What?! Tel Aviv is a major, if not the major, military and technical partner of Baku. Yet Israel raises charges against its own company for a completely legal cooperation with Azerbaijan?!

It turns out that while many believe in the global omnipotence of the Jewish lobby running the show around the globe, the less powerful Armenian lobby somehow manages to meddle in the affairs of the State of Israel, all with the help of Israeli authorities.

What happened?

Aeronautics is an Israeli company with 20 plus years of experience in manufacturing of drones. The company is working in 60 countries, with Azerbaijan being one of its most loyal customers. Aeronautics is known to have launched a joint plant in Azerbaijan with the local company AZAD to manufacture parts for its drones.

Backed by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence, the company’s cooperation with Azerbaijan goes back to 2009 and has continued successfully ever since.

Recently, the company’s representatives in Israel have been reported to be prosecuted for an episodes of aid provided to Azerbaijan in 2017...

In July 2017, during another round of tension between Yerevan and Baku, Aeronautics promptly delivered K1 combat drones to Azerbaijan at the request of the latter. As part of the agreement, Aeronautics also trained a group of Azerbaijani specialists on piloting the drones. Although the representatives of the company were in Azerbaijan during the operation of their drones, all the systems were operated independently by Azerbaijani specialists.

That’s how it all started. Pro-Armenian circles in Israel seized an opportunity to coerce the company working with Azerbaijan by accusing its executives of the unsanctioned support of Azerbaijan’s military actions and the transfer of weapons to the latter that was used against Armenia.

That’s how they filed a complaint with the Israeli Ministry of Defense and initiated an indictment against Aeronautics and its executives.

According to Israeli regulations, representatives of the country may not take part in military actions that do not involve the State of Israel. Aeronautics officials claim that they just handed over the drones to Azerbaijan and trained the Azerbaijani military how to operate them. And that all their actions were in line with existing regulations and under all the necessary permits given by the Ministry of Defense. In other words, they did not violate the laws...

After a lengthy investigation, the case file was handed over to Dr. Avihai Mandelblit, legal counsel to the Israeli government. It is reported that the prosecutor's office did not want to go to court, hence offering Aeronautics a pre-trial deal limited to the payment of a fine and community service. But Aeronautics rejected the offer, as they believed that they had not infringed the law, hence there was no reason to take the case to court.

Mr. Mandelblit hesitated to hand over the case file to the court as well. Perhaps he realised that this might have an unwelcome backlash in relations with Israel’s major strategic partner. Yet, by an incredible coincidence, interests of the Armenian lobby prevailed over the patriotism of Mr. Mendlblit. And after a year and a half, he decided to hand over the case against Aeronautics and its three executives to the court.

Punch Israel to please Armenia

Remember Armenia and Iran ranting about the delivery of Israeli drones to Azerbaijan during the 44-day war in Garabagh? But while Tehran, thanks to the successful diplomacy of the Azerbaijani president, received comprehensive answers to its questions about regional security, defeat in the war is, apparently, still a bitter pill to swallow for Yerevan.

By the way, in February 2021, a monument to the victims of the Holocaust was desecrated in Yerevan. Vandals used red paint and inscribed words to resemble the brand-names of Israeli weapons used by the Azerbaijani army during the war.

Armenia has always been irritated to see the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel in the defense industry flourishing. Yerevan even recalled its ambassador from Israel during the 2020 war in Garabagh as a sign of protest against the supply of Israeli weapons to Azerbaijan.

Certainly, Armenia cannot prevent this cooperation at the state level. But it can always use the pro-Armenian circles in Israel for that purpose, same as it did in case of Aeronautics.

The alleged punishment of the company for its legitimate activities under valid interstate agreements may pose serious problems for such a reliable foreign policy partner of Israel as Azerbaijan. Most importantly, the circles advocating for Armenian interests should understand that it is not only human ties and close friendship, but also common strategic interests that bring Israel and Azerbaijan together. Their actions primarily damage the strategic interests of their own country for the benefit of Armenia.

Thanks to friendly and strategic relations between Azerbaijan and Israel, the efforts of pro-Armenian support groups usually end in complete failure. We very much hope that the trial of the Aeronautics executives will be yet another failed attempt of the Armenian lobby.