ArmInfo. Knesset deputies approved the proposal of Tamar Sandberg to vote on the issue of official recognition of the Armenian Genocide by 16 votes for and 10 against in Ottoman Turkey in the beginning of the 20th century, Vesti-Israel reports.
Opening the debate on Wednesday, May 23, the Speaker of the Knesset, Julius Edelstein, stated that Israel is obliged to recognize the genocide beyond any connection with the situation around Turkey. "We have to fulfill our duty as Jews and just like people," said the speaker, "it's a duty I've been calling for several years. In a short time, more than a million people were brutally killed. This is an incredible crime."
"I'm ashamed to hear," Edelstein continued, "how people's representatives and public figures call the recognition of the genocide" our response to the Turks. "This will be a worthy response to the shameful steps taken by the Turkish authorities after recent events on the Gaza borders. Are we for strings? Is the story changing depending on our relationship with Erdogan?"
Tamar Sandberg, who demanded to include the issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide on the agenda of the Knesset, said: "Refusal to recognize casts a shadow on the moral character of Israel, especially in the light of the fact that this refusal is dictated by political considerations."
Itzik Shmuli (Zionist camp), who is also for the recognizing the Armenian Genocide, said that this recognition must be official and permanent.
According to Shmuli, the Jewish state is obliged at the highest level to declare that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were completely exterminated using the most savage methods.
The recognition of the genocide depends on the position of the government and the coalition, whose deputies gained the freedom to vote on this issue. Voting should take place next week.
The source reminds that unlike 30 countries that have already recognized the Armenian Genocide, Israel has not yet taken a decision on this issue. In 2016, the Knesset Education Committee passed a resolution and called on the Knesset and the government to recognize the genocide. However, such a step could finally worsen relations between Israel and Turkey, which categorically denies its responsibility for the murder of Armenians.