It's time for Israel to officially recognize the Armenian Holocaust
With tensions between Israel and Turkey on the rise, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognize the mass murders of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman government in 1915 as genocide.It most absolutely was a mistake, as was refusing to recognize the Armenian tragedy long before, which could've caused serious damage to Israel's own ability to garner respect from other countries that might know better. It's time to rectify that.
In the past, the Foreign Ministry had assessed that such a move was likely to lead to the expulsion of Israeli Embassy staff in Ankara and the recalling of Turkey's ambassador from Israel.
While Turkey denies that the mass killings constitute genocide, 29 countries and 48 of the 50 U.S. states have officially recognized them as such.
Erdan's call to recognize the Armenian genocide follows a war of words between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Erdogan accused Israel of using "disproportionate force" against the "peaceful protesters" during Friday's Hamas-orchestrated march in the Gaza Strip. He later called Israel a "terrorist state."
On Monday, Erdan said the 2016 reconciliation between Jerusalem and Ankara may have been "a mistake."
Labels: Armenia, dhimmitude, islam, Israel, jihad, racism, terrorism, turkey