ANALYSIS: ODDS AGAINST KNESSET RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Aris Ghazinyan

ArmeniaNow reporter
Genocide | 29.04.10 | 13:29

Haim Oron has initiated putting the genocide recognition bill on
Knesset’s agenda.

On April 28, Israeli parliamentarians decided to put the issue of the
Armenian Genocide on the Knesset’s agenda of discussions, reviving
an initiative that has been a complication for the Israelis since at
least 2007.

Israel’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense is hugely
influenced by Turkish and Azeri lobbies and the issue might, once
again, fall into oblivion.

In August of 2007, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) stated that
it would recognize the 1915 killings of 1.5 million Armenians as
Genocide. ADL Chairman Abraham Foxman said the decision was made
after careful consideration.

That piece of information outraged Turkey. At a meeting with the
Israeli Ambassador in Ankara the then foreign minister of Turkey
Abdulla Gul expressed his "wrath and disappointment" on behalf of
his country.

He also stated that the " Anti-Defamation League’s statement was,
of course, made without official intervention, nonetheless Israel
could have done something to prevent that statement".

Turkish Prime-Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the issue
with Israeli president Shimon Peres who had repeatedly stressed that
"the Armenian tragedy should not be confused with genocide".

During the past two years heated debates haven taken place in Knesset
on the appropriateness of putting the Armenian Genocide issue on the
agenda of discussions.

On March 26, 2008, Knesset was discussing whether they should put the
issue of the Armenian Genocide recognition on the agenda, when the
chairman of Parliamentary Association of Israel-Azerbaijan Friendship,
MP Joseph Shagal (Our Home Israel political party member) made a new
suggestion on submitting the issue to the Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee where the case stalled.

Two years later the issue is once more on Knesset’s agenda.

This time, Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that the bill should further
be considered by the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee – again
facing the influence of the Turkish and Azeri lobby.

This fact comes handy to Our Home Israel faction which has voted
against the bill.

On April 17, prior to the voting, Josef Shagal, who is also member
of that faction, said in an exclusive interview to 1news.az paper
that "supporters of recognition of the so-called ‘Armenian Genocide’
are a handful of marginalized Israelis, and this issue is, probably,
the only way to remind about their political existence".

Shagal, 60, was born and grew up in Baku where he has lived most of
his life. He has graduated from history faculty of Azerbaijan’s State
University. Until his repatriation to Israel he had worked in Baku
as a journalist.

It should also be noted that the initiator of the issue himself,
MP Haim Oron, does not believe a ‘positive result’ is likely to
be achieved, however, thinks it necessary to try to obtain a just
solution to the issue and recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Israel’s official position has been repeatedly voiced: "Israel
recognizes the Armenian tragedy, however that event cannot be compared
to genocide, which, nonetheless, does not belittle their tragedy.

Holocaust is an unprecedented phenomenon, and nothing, including
Armenian’s tragedy, can be compared to the Jewish Holocaust".