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'We Don't Want This To End With A Discussion': Knesset Committee Pos

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  • 'We Don't Want This To End With A Discussion': Knesset Committee Pos

    'WE DON'T WANT THIS TO END WITH A DISCUSSION': KNESSET COMMITTEE POSTPONES VOTING ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

    epress.am
    12.26.2011

    Amid heightened tensions between Turkey and France, after the latter
    passed a bill criminalizing the denial of genocide, the Knesset's
    Education Committee on Monday held a session on recognizing the
    Armenian Genocide, Ynetnews reports.

    "This subject is being discussed in the Knesset today regardless of
    the recent negative developments between Israel and Turkey," said
    Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, who attended the hearing.

    "There is an element of recognition - as the State of Israel - that
    we will not ignore another people's calamity, despite diplomatic
    pressures and the current political situation.

    "We believe that as humans, as Jews and as citizens of the State of
    Israel - along with members of Knesset that are not Jewish - we must
    put the subject on the national agenda. We stand before the world
    with the utmost moral demand," he said.

    The Knesset speaker added that "even the Turks understand that we
    cannot ignore our commitment as people, as Jews and as citizens
    of Israel."

    MK Zahava Gal-On, chair of the Meretz faction, said that "acknowledging
    the horrors that took place in the past should not affect future
    relations with Turkey.

    "[Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdgoan's statements are made
    to create internal propaganda," the member of Knesset noted, adding
    that the Turkey will find a way to preserve its diplomatic ties with
    Israel based on common interests.

    Gal-On stated that the Knesset must take a clear position on the
    Armenian Genocide after long years of silence. "The moral duty to
    recognize the Armenian Genocide is not a partisan issue.

    "As a daughter to the Jewish people, who underwent a holocaust that
    has no precedent in human memory, we have the moral duty to show
    sensitivity to the calamity of other nations," she said.

    "A million and a half people were butchered. I know this is a sensitive
    topic, and that throughout the years it has been used as a foreign
    policy tool in the hands of Israel's governments, but we have a moral
    duty. It is inconceivable that our school curriculums are silent on
    the Armenian Genocide," she said.

    Former member of Knesset Haim Oron, who has been dealing with the
    subject for many years, added: "We don't want this to end with
    this discussion, but with a statement that expresses the Knesset's
    recognition of the Armenian Genocide."

    Three years ago the Foreign Ministry tried to thwart a hearing dealing
    with the Armenian Genocide, but this time officials in the ministry
    presented a different view, claiming that the subject should be
    determined "by historians, not politicians."

    National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror asked Knesset Speaker Reuven
    Rivlin to postpone the discussion, but Rivlin refused, saying: "As a
    nation that has suffered through a holocaust, we cannot ignore this
    issue, and therefore the hearing will be held as scheduled."

    At the end of today's meeting, the committee postponed voting on
    the resolution, to provide time for the deputies to study Armenian
    Genocide resolutions approved by the parliaments of other countries.

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