Tweet
ISRAEL'S PRESIDENT ENDORSES POPE'S COMMENTS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
21:13 * 22.04.15
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin spoke out strongly on the question of
the Armenian genocide in a closed session with journalists held last
week in Jerusalem in honor of Israel Independence Day, thetower.org
reports.
In his comments, Rivlin drew a direct historical link between the
world's failure to prevent the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust.
"The Nazis," he said, "used the Armenian genocide as something that
gave them permission to bring the Holocaust into reality."
Rivlin also endorsed the comments made by Pope Francis on April
12, in which he referred to the slaughter of the Armenians as the
"first genocide of the Twentieth Century." The comments triggered
condemnations from the Turkish government, which also recalled its
ambassador to the Vatican. "I will congratulate the Pope on these
comments," Rivlin said. "This is important to Christians, Jews,
Muslims - to human beings."
Although not the same as official national recognition or government
policy, comments by Israel's president express a powerful sentiment
shared by a great many Israelis, whose country was founded in the
shadow of the Holocaust, and whose early Zionist history includes no
small number of references to the Armenian genocide as a harbinger
of what might await Jews if they did not leave Europe.
For several years, the question of Rivlin's position has been an
increasingly sensitive one as he moved from his previous position
as Speaker of the Knesset to his current role as President. Once an
outspoken proponent of official recognition of the Armenian genocide,
this past December, Rivlin raised some eyebrows when he refused to
sign the annual letter calling on Israel to formally recognize the
slaughter.
In a speech before the United Nations commemorating the Holocaust the
following month, however, Rivlin implicitly recognized the Armenian
genocide and drew a direct connection between the world's failure to
act in 1915, again during the Holocaust, and then again in subsequent
genocides around the world. Rivlin also recounted how his family,
which lived in Jerusalem at the time, saw the Armenian refugees
streaming into the Holy Land in the wake of the genocide. "In the
Land of Israel of the time, in which I was born, no one denied the
murder that occurred. The residents of Jerusalem, my parents, saw
them coming by thousands, starving, burning sticks snatched from the
fire. In Jerusalem they found refuge and their descendants live there
to this day."
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/04/22/israels-president-armenian-genocide/1654824
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
21:13 * 22.04.15
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin spoke out strongly on the question of
the Armenian genocide in a closed session with journalists held last
week in Jerusalem in honor of Israel Independence Day, thetower.org
reports.
In his comments, Rivlin drew a direct historical link between the
world's failure to prevent the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust.
"The Nazis," he said, "used the Armenian genocide as something that
gave them permission to bring the Holocaust into reality."
Rivlin also endorsed the comments made by Pope Francis on April
12, in which he referred to the slaughter of the Armenians as the
"first genocide of the Twentieth Century." The comments triggered
condemnations from the Turkish government, which also recalled its
ambassador to the Vatican. "I will congratulate the Pope on these
comments," Rivlin said. "This is important to Christians, Jews,
Muslims - to human beings."
Although not the same as official national recognition or government
policy, comments by Israel's president express a powerful sentiment
shared by a great many Israelis, whose country was founded in the
shadow of the Holocaust, and whose early Zionist history includes no
small number of references to the Armenian genocide as a harbinger
of what might await Jews if they did not leave Europe.
For several years, the question of Rivlin's position has been an
increasingly sensitive one as he moved from his previous position
as Speaker of the Knesset to his current role as President. Once an
outspoken proponent of official recognition of the Armenian genocide,
this past December, Rivlin raised some eyebrows when he refused to
sign the annual letter calling on Israel to formally recognize the
slaughter.
In a speech before the United Nations commemorating the Holocaust the
following month, however, Rivlin implicitly recognized the Armenian
genocide and drew a direct connection between the world's failure to
act in 1915, again during the Holocaust, and then again in subsequent
genocides around the world. Rivlin also recounted how his family,
which lived in Jerusalem at the time, saw the Armenian refugees
streaming into the Holy Land in the wake of the genocide. "In the
Land of Israel of the time, in which I was born, no one denied the
murder that occurred. The residents of Jerusalem, my parents, saw
them coming by thousands, starving, burning sticks snatched from the
fire. In Jerusalem they found refuge and their descendants live there
to this day."
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/04/22/israels-president-armenian-genocide/1654824
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress