Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein (Likud) has called on the government to formally recognize the Armenian genocide. “The State of Israel must reevaluate the criteria for its position, since none of us can change the history,” he said.
Edelstein, who is a close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Armenian genocide was “one of the most heinous and dramatic incidents that happened in the beginning of the last century.”
“Over several years, more than a million Armenians were led to their deaths and according to most estimates – the number reached a million and a half people. This was done through racist and xenophobic massacres and expulsions,” Edelstein said.
He noted that “It is no secret that the State of Israel has until now taken an ambivalent stance regarding the Armenian genocide. A tangle of constraints, diplomatic and others, has created a state of affairs in which the Israeli position was too hesitant, too restrained, and as a result – has downplayed the importance of this powerful event. The government should sacrifice the recognition in the name of temporary interests.”
“As members of the Jewish people, with the memory of the Holocaust that occurred not long afterwards still seared into our flesh, that we cannot afford to remain silent. We cannot look aside or belittle the Armenian tragedy,” he stressed.
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