Tel-Chai Nation

Nadav Shragai makes the vital case for a more official recognition of the abominations committed by Turkey's Islamic Ottoman empire during WW1:

This coming April will mark the 109th anniversary of the Armenian genocide by the Turks, for which, Turkey's current president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, refuses to assume responsibility. This date will almost simultaneously also mark 76 years of Israel's embarrassing efforts to evade formal recognition of this genocide. And right now, we are commemorating another important episode in modern history: 100 days since the October 7 massacre, in addition to the blood libel that Turkey's president has accused Israel of, which according to him is "like the Nazis", as he has alleged that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

This current juncture – at the precise time when a court hearing has begun in The Hague alleging that "Israel has violated the Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" – should lead the way, however late this might be, to a profound discourse and reflection towards official Israeli recognition, after all this time, for the Armenian genocide.

The state of the Jewish people, which itself experienced the Holocaust, a considerably more severe historical event both in terms of scale and ferocity, has for years refrained from officially recognizing the genocide that the Turks perpetrated against the Armenians, due to what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informally defined as "vital security interests" as well as "the profound economic relationship between the two states." The outcome of this definition is that even now when for the umpteenth time, Erdogan has identified with and supported the modern-day Amalek, the Palestinazi Hamas, and even when he has reiterated the absurd comparison between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hitler – Israel still refuses to recognize the Armenian genocide. [...]

At this current period in time, when Erdogan unashamedly supports the new Nazis of our generation, Israel has been presented with another opportunity to amend this situation. The Jewish state should have asked itself a long time ago: would it, itself, have accepted the refusal to acknowledge the Jewish Holocaust by any state due to economic or security interests, as it has pinned its refusal for years on such interests in its decision to refrain from any official acknowledgment of the Armenian people's holocaust.

After all, the moral compass should be the same in both cases, and the Israeli government's refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide is a clear case of blatant moral bankruptcy. Though the Armenian holocaust was different from the Jewish Holocaust – less industrially organized and effective, and much more limited in terms of its scale – despite these significant differences, the Armenian people did suffer a real form of genocide. Many historians and more than 30 states have recognized the genocide of this people, in which between one to one and a half million people were annihilated. To our great shame, of all nations, Israel has refrained from acknowledging this, and in the clear conflict between morality and interests – it is the interests that prevailed.

And all because they've been so terrified of wrecking relations with Turkey, no matter the vulgar abuse creeps like Erdogan heap upon Israel, which includes the recent persecution of a soccer player. This has long rendered local policy a sick farce. And disgusting "journalists" like Rachel Avraham have made the situation far worse.

The time's come to start mending the damage and making an announcement that Israel will make an official recognition of Medz Yeghern. It's long overdue, and could help mend strained relations with Armenia itself.

Labels: anti-semitism, Armenia, dhimmitude, Europe, islam, Israel, jihad, Knesset, misogyny, racism, sexual violence, terrorism, turkey, war on terror