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ISRAEL AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, Italy
June 27 2014
Simone Zoppellaro | Yerevan
Next year the centennial of the Armenian genocide will be remembered.
In the international debate on recognition, a special position is
that of Israel
For a long time the issue of the Armenian Genocide has been
considered taboo by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Over the
years, attempts to obtain its public recognition have been vetoed by
different governments, worried that the move would jeopardize relations
with the main strategic ally of Israel in the region at that time,
Turkey. And this regardless of the fact that, since the very first
years following the events, several in the Jewish world and in the
Zionist movement itself raised voices of sympathy and condolence for
a tragedy that in many ways heralded the horrors of the Holocaust.
Mavi Marmara
Things started to move only in the aftermath of the Freedom Flotilla
incident on May 31, 2010, when six ships of activists flying American,
Swedish, Turkish and Greek flags attempted to break the Gaza Strip
blockade imposed by Israel to bring humanitarian aid to the civilian
population. On that occasion, the largest ship, the MV Mavi Marmara,
was stormed by Israeli special forces, with an operation that cost life
to nine Turkish activists and caused the suspension of diplomatic
relations between the two countries. A crisis that, despite the
American mediation, hasn't been mended yet.
Less than a year after the events, in May 2011, the Knesset addressed
the issue of the Armenian genocide for the first time in a public
session, following the proposal of Zehava Gal-On, an MP from the
leftist Meretz. For years, proposals like the one of Gal-On had been
scuppered by successive governments, with the idea that the issue
should be addressed "through an open debate based on data and facts,
and not on political decisions or declarations," according to the
words used in 2009 by Likud Minister Gilad Erdan. Or, to put it in a
nutshell: outside of the parliament. However, this time no veto came,
and the issue was discussed openly.
The Azeri factor
Still, a new strategic factor of Israeli foreign policy derailed
once more the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Knesset:
the increasingly close relationship - in political, economic and
military terms - between Israel and Azerbaijan. A relationship,
quoting the words of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made
public by Wikileaks, which is like an iceberg: "nine-tenths of it is
below the surface."
The Azerbaijani government, opposed to Armenia cause of the unresolved
issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, claimed by Baku as part of its national
territory, adverses any international recognition of the Armenian
genocide. For this purpose, it uses lobbying and diplomatic pressure
against countries willing to do so. In the case of Israel, Azerbaijan
found a great ally in the far-right nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu.
The following are the words pronounced on May 18, 2011 by the Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of Yisrael Beiteinu, Danny
Ayalon: "There is no chance that the Knesset would recognize the
Armenian Genocide. It is impossible. We cannot afford ourselves to
deface relations with our main strategic partner in the Muslim world
- Azerbaijan - for some vexed historical questions concerning events
that took place hundred years ago." Thus, also in 2011 the question
of genocide was archived.
The Erdogan speech
However, a more significant change of course occurred in recent months,
when the issue of the Israeli recognition of the Armenian genocide
came back into the international limelight, raising new hopes in
Yerevan and among the Armenian diaspora. A decisive contribution,
according to what reported by the Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar in
Al-Monitor, was given by the speech delivered by the Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the eve of the 99th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide, on April 23.
The speech, though far from recognizing a genocidal will in the
massacres that took place in the Ottoman Empire starting from 1915,
represented a significant - and in many ways unexpected - step forward
in the issue. For the first time, in fact, a Turkish Prime Minister
addressed his condolences to "our Armenian citizens and all Armenians
around the world".
This, apparently, would have produced a certain embarrassment in Tel
Aviv, in a political establishment still torn between the desire not
to jeopardize relations with the old and new allies mentioned above,
and the need to take a stand on an issue that becomes more and more
hardly avoidable. This, in particular, with the centenary celebration
of the Armenian genocide just round the corner, in 2015.
Some steps taken recently by the influential American Jewish
community were of great importance in the direction of a change. Thus,
Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman, after years
of denial, finally admitted last May that what happened at the expense
of the Armenians during WWI can be defined as genocide. Or, just a
few days before, the publication of a "tribute to memories of the
victims of the Metz Yeghern" signed by the American Jewish Committee,
which has provoked a strong protest from the Turkish Ambassador in
Washington, Serdar Kılıc.
Reuven Rivlin
But, most of all, what arouse significant hopes was the election to
Presidency of Republic of Reuven Rivlin, on June 10. Greeted with
jubilation by the representatives of the ancient Armenian community
of Israel and by the Armenian press in general, the fact raised
great expectations as Rivlin has proven, over the years, to be one
of the politicians in Israel more involved in the recognition of the
Armenian genocide.
Important, in this regard, was the declaration issued last month by
the same Rivlin. Words that seem to echo the famous statement that,
according to Louis Lochner of the Associated Press, Adolph Hiltler
would have pronounced in 1939 ("Who speaks today of the extermination
of the Armenians?"): "Whoever thought of the Final Solution got
the impression that, when the day comes, the world will be silent,
like it was about the Armenians. It is hard for me to forgive other
nations for ignoring our tragedy and we cannot ignore another nation's
tragedy. That is our moral obligation as people and Jews."
Over the last few days, there was a visit to Yerevan by a delegation
of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry for a series of consultations
having as objective to expand the cooperation between the two countries
in the economic and political spheres. On the occasion, the delegation
visited the Memorial of the Armenian Genocide.
Hard to say if, in the end, conciliatory positions like that of Rivlin
will prevail, or instead those of the ones who think "offensive, and
even blasphemous" (thus Yosef Shagal of Yisrael Beiteinu, in 2008)
to compare the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust of the Jews.
Certainly, what remains is the unease towards those willing to
sacrifice the memory of thousands of victims on the altar of political
interest.
http://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Regions-and-countries/Armenia/Israel-and-the-Armenian-Genocide-153540
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, Italy
June 27 2014
Simone Zoppellaro | Yerevan
Next year the centennial of the Armenian genocide will be remembered.
In the international debate on recognition, a special position is
that of Israel
For a long time the issue of the Armenian Genocide has been
considered taboo by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Over the
years, attempts to obtain its public recognition have been vetoed by
different governments, worried that the move would jeopardize relations
with the main strategic ally of Israel in the region at that time,
Turkey. And this regardless of the fact that, since the very first
years following the events, several in the Jewish world and in the
Zionist movement itself raised voices of sympathy and condolence for
a tragedy that in many ways heralded the horrors of the Holocaust.
Mavi Marmara
Things started to move only in the aftermath of the Freedom Flotilla
incident on May 31, 2010, when six ships of activists flying American,
Swedish, Turkish and Greek flags attempted to break the Gaza Strip
blockade imposed by Israel to bring humanitarian aid to the civilian
population. On that occasion, the largest ship, the MV Mavi Marmara,
was stormed by Israeli special forces, with an operation that cost life
to nine Turkish activists and caused the suspension of diplomatic
relations between the two countries. A crisis that, despite the
American mediation, hasn't been mended yet.
Less than a year after the events, in May 2011, the Knesset addressed
the issue of the Armenian genocide for the first time in a public
session, following the proposal of Zehava Gal-On, an MP from the
leftist Meretz. For years, proposals like the one of Gal-On had been
scuppered by successive governments, with the idea that the issue
should be addressed "through an open debate based on data and facts,
and not on political decisions or declarations," according to the
words used in 2009 by Likud Minister Gilad Erdan. Or, to put it in a
nutshell: outside of the parliament. However, this time no veto came,
and the issue was discussed openly.
The Azeri factor
Still, a new strategic factor of Israeli foreign policy derailed
once more the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Knesset:
the increasingly close relationship - in political, economic and
military terms - between Israel and Azerbaijan. A relationship,
quoting the words of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made
public by Wikileaks, which is like an iceberg: "nine-tenths of it is
below the surface."
The Azerbaijani government, opposed to Armenia cause of the unresolved
issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, claimed by Baku as part of its national
territory, adverses any international recognition of the Armenian
genocide. For this purpose, it uses lobbying and diplomatic pressure
against countries willing to do so. In the case of Israel, Azerbaijan
found a great ally in the far-right nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu.
The following are the words pronounced on May 18, 2011 by the Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of Yisrael Beiteinu, Danny
Ayalon: "There is no chance that the Knesset would recognize the
Armenian Genocide. It is impossible. We cannot afford ourselves to
deface relations with our main strategic partner in the Muslim world
- Azerbaijan - for some vexed historical questions concerning events
that took place hundred years ago." Thus, also in 2011 the question
of genocide was archived.
The Erdogan speech
However, a more significant change of course occurred in recent months,
when the issue of the Israeli recognition of the Armenian genocide
came back into the international limelight, raising new hopes in
Yerevan and among the Armenian diaspora. A decisive contribution,
according to what reported by the Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar in
Al-Monitor, was given by the speech delivered by the Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the eve of the 99th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide, on April 23.
The speech, though far from recognizing a genocidal will in the
massacres that took place in the Ottoman Empire starting from 1915,
represented a significant - and in many ways unexpected - step forward
in the issue. For the first time, in fact, a Turkish Prime Minister
addressed his condolences to "our Armenian citizens and all Armenians
around the world".
This, apparently, would have produced a certain embarrassment in Tel
Aviv, in a political establishment still torn between the desire not
to jeopardize relations with the old and new allies mentioned above,
and the need to take a stand on an issue that becomes more and more
hardly avoidable. This, in particular, with the centenary celebration
of the Armenian genocide just round the corner, in 2015.
Some steps taken recently by the influential American Jewish
community were of great importance in the direction of a change. Thus,
Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman, after years
of denial, finally admitted last May that what happened at the expense
of the Armenians during WWI can be defined as genocide. Or, just a
few days before, the publication of a "tribute to memories of the
victims of the Metz Yeghern" signed by the American Jewish Committee,
which has provoked a strong protest from the Turkish Ambassador in
Washington, Serdar Kılıc.
Reuven Rivlin
But, most of all, what arouse significant hopes was the election to
Presidency of Republic of Reuven Rivlin, on June 10. Greeted with
jubilation by the representatives of the ancient Armenian community
of Israel and by the Armenian press in general, the fact raised
great expectations as Rivlin has proven, over the years, to be one
of the politicians in Israel more involved in the recognition of the
Armenian genocide.
Important, in this regard, was the declaration issued last month by
the same Rivlin. Words that seem to echo the famous statement that,
according to Louis Lochner of the Associated Press, Adolph Hiltler
would have pronounced in 1939 ("Who speaks today of the extermination
of the Armenians?"): "Whoever thought of the Final Solution got
the impression that, when the day comes, the world will be silent,
like it was about the Armenians. It is hard for me to forgive other
nations for ignoring our tragedy and we cannot ignore another nation's
tragedy. That is our moral obligation as people and Jews."
Over the last few days, there was a visit to Yerevan by a delegation
of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry for a series of consultations
having as objective to expand the cooperation between the two countries
in the economic and political spheres. On the occasion, the delegation
visited the Memorial of the Armenian Genocide.
Hard to say if, in the end, conciliatory positions like that of Rivlin
will prevail, or instead those of the ones who think "offensive, and
even blasphemous" (thus Yosef Shagal of Yisrael Beiteinu, in 2008)
to compare the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust of the Jews.
Certainly, what remains is the unease towards those willing to
sacrifice the memory of thousands of victims on the altar of political
interest.
http://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Regions-and-countries/Armenia/Israel-and-the-Armenian-Genocide-153540