Israel to Consider First Official Recognition of the Armenian Genocide

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced on Thursday evening that he will bring a government resolution to the cabinet’s next meeting asking Israel to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide for the first time. The draft says Israel should do so out of a “moral and historical duty” and should condemn denial, minimization or distortion of the historical record.

The explanatory notes say the genocide began in April 1915, when hundreds of Armenian intellectuals, leaders and scholars were arrested, deported and killed in Constantinople. They say the Ottoman authorities then launched a systematic campaign against the wider Armenian population, sending men to forced labor and death, and deporting women, children and the elderly on death marches into the Syrian desert. The proposal states that about 1.5 million people were killed and that an ancient cultural and historical heritage in Anatolia was destroyed.

The text also says the genocide remains the subject of an organized campaign of denial and minimization, including manipulative rewriting of history books, mainly by Turkey. It notes that 32 countries have already recognized it in various ways, and says Israel should now join them and reject efforts to obscure the atrocities.

The move comes one day after US President Donald Trump praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, amid discussion of a possible US F-35 sale to Turkey. Trump said Erdogan was a “leading candidate” to join Iran in the war because he was not a big fan of Israel, but also said, “I like him, he is my friend and he stayed out of the war with Iran.” Israel has long avoided an official government recognition, citing concerns about Turkey and Azerbaijan, though Knesset committees and individual Israeli leaders have previously signaled support. Netanyahu reportedly blocked prior cabinet discussion on the issue.