‘ISRAEL WILL CHANGE ITS POSITION AS SOON AS USA DOES’
AZG Armenian Daily #072, 22/04/2005
Armenian Genocide
Four representatives of Israel, Prof. Yehuda Bauer, Yossi Sarid from
Meretz Movement, Yair Auron from the Open University of Israel and
Israel Charny, executive director of the Institute on the Holocaust and
Genocide, made their speeches at “Ultimate Crime, Ultimate Challenge”
on April 20 session.
Prof. Yehuda Bauer shared with daily Azg about the opposite stances
of Israeli government and people.
“Israel will change its position as soon as the USA does. The
government fears spoiling relations with Turkey but the society is of
the opposite view and openly speaks of the Armenian Genocide. I do
not think that today’s government will change its position. I have
no doubt that most of the Israelites will immediately recognize the
Genocide if asked”.
What’s the primary step for Armenia in this aspect? “To do everything
to win the USA’s recognition of the Genocide. That’s the most important
thing”, Prof. Bauer said.
Israel Charny’s report was titled “Genocide Denial as Continued
Repression of Human Rights”. “We have marked serious progress in
fight against Turkey’s denialist policy. The number of Turks and
Turkish journalists recognizing the genocide has increased. The
Turks know that they are losing the battle. It’s clear that they
will not immediately give up but negation harms their own society and
stymies the state’s development. The most tiring thing in working with
Turks is that they are always right and the worst thing is that they
never make mistakes”. He added that the Turks have been displaying
meaningless initiatives lately. For instance, they require to hold
another trial over Soghomon Tehlerian for murdering Taleat, or open
an international commission to review the Genocide issue.
“It’s time that we — victimized peoples — go beyond simply
commemorating the genocides; we have to respect the rights of other
genocided peoples. Only then values will be restored”, he said.
Yossi Sarid, member of the Israeli Knesset and chair of Meretz
Movement, spoke of the Jewish people’s responsibility towards
genocide victims. “We, the Jews, who are victims of hatred, have to
be twice more attentive and sensitive for those who passed through
genocide”, Sarid said. As a former education minister he highlighted
the need of stressing the value of human life regardless nationality
in educational programs of Israel. He informed that a new history
textbook is being prepared which will have a separate chapter about
the Armenian Genocide. “Some Jews are fearful that recognition of
the Armenian nation’s sufferings will diminish importance of the
Holocaust. That is certainly a horrific crime against the Jewish people
but my Israeli colleagues here believe that it was a crime against the
mankind as well. Jews are not the only victims as Germany is not the
only criminal. We are not tired yet and are strong enough to lead
the government of Israel and other countries on the way of genocide
recognition and ultimately to reconciliation”.
Yair Auron from the Open University of Israel presented “The Pain of
Knowledge; Reflections o Holocaust and Genocide Issues in Education”
report. “Of course, today’s youth, including the Turks, are not
responsible for the events of the past but are responsible as to
what will be the place of Armenian Genocide in the historic memory
of their nation and country”, he said.
By Ruzan Poghosian