For decades, Armenia and Israel have had every reason to be close—yet were blocked by geopolitics. That may now be changing, in some under-the-radar drama on the world stage.

It would be a long overdue correction for the many Israelis and Armenians who see each other as natural partners: two small, non-Muslim democracies in a region dominated by authoritarian regimes; ancient peoples with widespread diasporas and deep memories; communities that lived as successful minorities under Soviet rule.

Armenians have maintained a presence in Jerusalem since the 4th century, and Jews have lived in Armenia since medieval times. And both nations endured genocide in the 20th century—the Ottoman slaughter of Armenians in 1915 and the Nazi extermination of European Jewry during World War II.

Yet those shared experiences never translated into trust. Israel’s strategic alignment with Azerbaijan—Armenia’s rival—long overshadowed everything else. Azerbaijan supplies Israel with oil and access to Iran’s northern flank, and in return has been a major buyer of Israeli drones and precision weapons. Those systems proved decisive in Baku’s victory in the 2020 war over Nagorno-Karabakh, and in the 2023 campaign that emptied the enclave of its 120,000 ethnic Armenian residents.

Now, however, something unprecedented has happened. In August, the United States—under President Donald Trump—persuaded Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign a peace agreement in Washington. The deal addresses remaining border and transit disputes, including in Armenia’s volatile southern Syunik province, and has dramatically reduced fears of renewed war in the South Caucasus.

Flags of Israel, Armenia, Ukraine and Germany on sale at a Yerevan market. (Photo by Larry Luxner)For the first time in years, the possibility exists that Israel and Armenia might finally pursue the relationship that geography and history once seemed to promise.

Signs of warming have already begun to surface. Back in July, the Municipality of Jerusalem renamed a small square adjacent to Damascus Gate after Elia Kahvedjian, an Armenian photographer whose family perished in the genocide. It was not a state-level act—but it made Jerusalem the third Israeli city, after Haifa and Petah Tikva, to memorialize the 1.5 million Armenians murdered by the Ottoman Empire.

Later that month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time referred publicly to the 1915 atrocities as a genocide—a statement that drew a sharp rebuke from Ankara and marked a break with Israel’s long-standing policy of ambiguity.

And in November, Armenia’s deputy foreign minister, Vahan Kostanyan, visited Jerusalem to meet Eden Bar-Tal, director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry. The talks focused on cooperation in high-tech, medicine and tourism—fields where each country sees clear benefits.

Yet despite this momentum, there’s also frustration. Some Israelis argue Armenia is rife with antisemitism—a claim Armenian officials and Jewish residents say is greatly exaggerated, especially compared with the sharp rise in violent antisemitism across Europe since Oct. 7. And Israel, despite five years of an Armenian mission operating in Tel Aviv, has still not opened an embassy in Yerevan.

Armen Akopian, Armenia’s ambassador to Israel. (Photo by Larry Luxner)“If you focus on antisemitism, you institutionalize it and make it a reality,” said Armen Akopian, Armenia’s envoy in Israel. “Focus instead on the absence of an Israeli embassy in Armenia, which I think sends a very wrong message. It means there is no interest in our country.”

Akopian notes that only three former Soviet republics remain without Israeli embassies: Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

“As Armenia’s ambassador here, I’m not very comfortable being in this group,” he said. “I don’t believe Israel doesn’t have the money to support a small office in Yerevan. If they wanted to, they’d find it.”

He added: “Some people consider any criticism of Israeli politics as antisemitism. By that measure, everyone protesting the current Israeli government in Kaplan Street is antisemitic.”

Daily Jewish life in Armenia, meanwhile, appears largely untroubled. “In four years here we haven’t faced antisemitism—no hostility or prejudice,” said Nathaniel Trubkin, founder of Yerevan Jewish Home, who fled Russia in 2022. “On the contrary, we’ve met many Armenians who really want closer relations with Israel.”

Entrance to the medieval Jewish cemetery of Yeghegis, which contains about 60 gravestones dating back to 1266. The site makes a popular day trip for Israeli tourists to Armenia. (Photo by Larry Luxner)He acknowledged anger over Israeli weapon sales to Azerbaijan but said online hostility is “no worse than in any other country” since the Israel-Hamas war began.

The vandalism of Yerevan’s only synagogue, the Mordechay Navi Jewish Religious Center—three incidents between September and November 2023—has also been portrayed by Armenian analysts as a false-flag attempt to damage the country’s reputation. “The synagogue attack was immediately reported by Azerbaijan’s ambassador in Germany, who tweeted about it half an hour after the incident — that raises some questions,” Akopian said. “Meanwhile, look what is happening to synagogues and Jewish graveyards in Europe and the United States.”

Abel Simonyan, an Armenian educator of Jewish ancestry, calls the recent high-level political consultations in both Jerusalem and Yerevan “highly significant” in light of current events.

“While we acknowledge the historical complexities including the sensitivity surrounding Israel’s arms trade with Azerbaijan and the lack of a resident Israeli embassy in Yerevan,” he said, “the current Armenian government is committed to an active policy of rapprochement, viewing deeper ties with Israel as strategically important.”

Other sensitivities run in the opposite direction. Frequent incidents of Orthodox Jews spitting at Christian clergy in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter have inflamed perceptions among Armenians abroad. “Of course it creates bad feelings because the police do nothing,” said Akopian. “They don’t even detain these people — and when they do, they release them after half an hour.”

These incidents have received widespread coveragethroughout the Armenian diaspora.

Armenian Catholic Patriarchate in Jerusalem’s Old City. (Photo by Larry Luxner)Giorgi Tumasyan, an Armenian community activist living in neighboring Georgia, views the Yerevan incident “as part of the hybrid warfare by Azerbaijan and Russia” against his country.

“I believe there were some misunderstandings in our relations with Israel,” Tumasyan said by phone from Tbilisi. “From the Armenian side, until very recently we were very dependent on Russia, and Russian influence led to stereotypes about Israel and against Armenian-Israeli relations. It was Moscow’s agenda to keep our two communities far from each other.”

Tumasyan, chairman of the Armenian Community Platform of Georgia, said Israel’s historically poor relationship with Armenia is more a consequence of superpower rivalry than anything else, noting that “this is all about Russia wanting to limit our ties to Israel, and the United States too.”

But some in Armenia argue the bigger story is shifting geopolitics. “It’s in Russia’s interest to isolate Armenia—and they do it through Azerbaijan,” said Ruben Mehrabyan, vice-president of Armenia’s Rally for the Republic party.

“There are only a few democracies in the region—Armenia, Israel, Georgia and Cyprus—so our two countries should be best friends,” said Mehrabyan. “We have to look forward, not backward. Our relations are only about two countries, Armenia and Israel. It’s not about Azerbaijan or Iran. And the ball is now in Israel’s court.”