Israel formally recognizes Armenian genocide from World War I
The Israeli government has unanimously voted to recognize the massacres of Armenians during World War I as genocide, a move widely seen as a rebuke to Turkey and a sign of deepening rift between the two countries.
On Sunday, the Israeli government unanimously recognized the massacres of Armenians during World War I as genocide, in a decision widely viewed as a rebuke to Turkey and a clear indication of the deepening rift between the two nations. Relations between Israel and Turkey have sharply deteriorated since the outbreak of the Gaza war following attacks by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in October 2023.
“A historic decision: the Israeli government has unanimously approved Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's proposal to recognize the Armenian genocide,” the foreign ministry stated. The decision still requires ratification by parliament.
“The Armenian genocide remains to this day the subject of an institutionalized campaign of denial and minimization, including a manipulative rewriting of history, mainly by the Turkish government,” Saar said at a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office. “I think the time has come for Israel, as a Jewish state, to formally accept this position... It is never too late to do the right thing... this is both a moral and historical duty.”
Previous Israeli governments had avoided formally recognizing the Armenian genocide, in part to preserve relations with Turkey, once one of Israel's closest strategic partners in the region.
