On June 12, 2012, in a discussion that lasted over an hour and a half the Israeli Knesset decided to continue discussing the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, within the Education, Culture and Sports Committee’s framework where was initially introduced in December 2011. (https://www.armeniancause.net/2011/12/26/knesset%E2%80%99s-education-committee-positive-on-armenian-genocide-recognition-discussion-postponed/).
Www.jpost.com reports that “Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Tuesday that Israel had an obligation to remember the murder of more than a million Armenians at the hands of the Turks nearly a hundred years ago, but warned that the issue should not be turned into an attack on the Turkish government of today” referring to the State Comptroller report about the 2010 Turkish flotilla incident, that was scheduled to be released on June 13th. “Those who drafted the Final Solution for the Jews figured the world would be silent as they were when the Armenians were murdered,” Rivlin said.
“We cannot forgive nations who ignore our disaster and we cannot ignore the disasters of others,” Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On, who initiated the Knesset discussion, accused the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of using the Armenian tragedy to attack Turkey. According to www.jpost.com, Gal-On said the government should “finally recognize” the episode as a Genocide and restore relations with Turkey by agreeing to apologize for the deaths of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists that were on the flotilla. “The Armenian Genocide is not an opportunity for public diplomacy,” Gal-On told the Knesset plenum. “Israel is strong enough to apologize for the killing of Turkish citizens without it harming Israel’s honor or its security. We don’t need to choose between recognizing genocide and relations with Turkey. We can have both.” “The Jewish people who have experienced the worst Holocaust have an obligation to show sensitivity to the disasters of others,” she added.
National Union MK Arieh Eldad called on Turkey to recognize its responsibility for its “historical crime,” which he said included children being “put into cellars and gassed.” He also quoted Hitler’s “Who remembers what happened to the Armenians,” when he was asked what the world would say about his Final Solution against the Jews.
Kadima MK Robert Tibayev was the only lawmaker to speak against Israel recognizing the Armenian Genocide, saying the state should not interfere in the issue but let historians or an international body determine if there was a genocide.
Balad MK Said Nafa, a Christian, took the opportunity to accuse current Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being hypocritical by complaining about the atrocities being committed by Syrian President Bashar Assad against his people while he himself has killed dozens of Kurds.
Hagop Sevan, representative of the Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem highlighted the importance of Government member, Gilad Erdan’s remarks who said that the Education, Culture and Sports’ Committee should continue with the discussion which should result to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem believes that Erdan’s remarks reflect the Government’s green light for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel.