Tel-Chai Nation

This may be a few weeks old, but it's very sad that Armenia's government, the same one selling out their country to Azerbaijan, is imitating Spain's, and recognizing a palestinian state, as though that'll improve the situation:

The Armenian government said Friday that it would recognize the state of Palestine, following similar announcements in recent weeks by Norway, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia. The decision — which makes Armenia the 145th country to extend such recognition — elicited praise from Palestinian authorities and a stern rebuke by Israel.

Citing the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said it was taking this step because “Armenia is genuinely committed to establishing peace and stability in the Middle East, and lasting reconciliation between the Jewish and Palestinian peoples.”

But this latest move could only complicate efforts to improve Armenian-Israeli ties — and to dispel the idea that Armenia is a hotbed of antisemitism. Israeli officials have summoned Armen Akopian, Armenia’s Tel Aviv-based ambassador, to a meeting for an official rebuke.

The moral equivalence involved here is additionally offensive.

The two countries’ relations have already been soured by billions of dollars in Israeli weapons sales to Armenia’s arch-enemy, Azerbaijan, as well as a bitter land dispute over Armenian church property in Jerusalem’s Old City. Adding insult to injury in the eyes of many here, Israel still hasn’t officially recognized the 1915 genocide of up to 1.5 million ethnic Armenians under Ottoman Turkish rule.

Every year on April 24, Armenians around the world, including in Israel, observe Genocide Remembrance Day, a solemn reminder of the first mass killing of the 20th century — and an event that gave rise to the term “genocide” itself.

“We feel that Jews and Armenians have a common destiny. And that’s why it hurts us more when this attitude comes from Israel,” said Stella Mehrabekyan, a senior editor at the CivilNet news agency in Yerevan. “We expect Israel’s actions would be based on moral grounds. Maybe this is naïve, but when your children are killed by Israeli drones, you cannot stay indifferent.”

What the above is indicating is that, while antisemitism has obviously always been prevalent in Armenian society for a long time, some of what's happening now, stupid as it is, may have what to do with the very shoddy approach Israel's governments took to the historical issue from WW1. And as angering as what Armenia's government is doing now, we shouldn't let that get in the way of recognizing the Armenian Genocide officially, as even a writer at the Jerusalem Post points out, and selling weapons to Azerbaijan is very disturbing, especially when said weapons could be put to better use against the Hezbollah now:

The relationship between Israel and Armenia has been strained for quite some time now. Ultimately, it comes down to a handful of factors.

The first is the issue of Israel’s support for Azerbaijan via its defense systems amid the Nagorno-Karabakh armed conflict.

According to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released in 2021, Israel was the source of 69% percent of Azerbaijan’s arms imports in the five years leading up to the report being published.

According to Middle East Eye, Azerbaijan was also able to use an Israeli interceptor system to shoot down an Armenian Iskander ballistic missile.

Armenia’s ambassador to Israel, Arman Akopian, told The Jerusalem Post this past September—just one week before the October 7 massacre—that Azerbaijan has been using Israeli weapons to maintain its power over Nagorno-Karabakh, including against civilians.

It's an interesting query whether weapons are still being provided to Azerbaijan even after October 7, 2023, because if so, that would make it look like Israel's actually willing to waste vital weaponry on countries that happen to be bad, when said weapons should be reserved for fighting the Hamas and Hezbollah now. Presumably, the government's not giving any weapons to Azerbaijan now. But if they are, they're creating an utter PR embarrassment.

In the spring of 1982, before the First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide, which took place in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Turkey demanded the cancellation of six sessions on the Armenian Genocide and the exclusion of Armenian speakers. They threatened to stop protecting Jews escaping from Iran and Syria if the Israeli government did not comply.

Turkey has not been an ally of Israel for quite some time. While the relationship has been fraught, making the subject a delicate one, Israel is a far cry from being a friend of Turkey right now, especially with the outlandish claims in support of Hamas that the successor state to the Ottoman Empire has made.

That being said, it means that avoiding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is no conflict of interest on the diplomatic front with Turkey.

As of 2023, some 34 countries around the world have recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Israel—a country made up of people who have experienced genocide, pogroms, and torment—has yet to do so.

Israeli lawmakers and activists have been fighting to bring about this recognition for years.

It is widely recognized that those responsible for the Armenian Genocide largely avoided punishment. Adolf Hitler believed he could commit his atrocities without consequence, citing the lack of action taken for the Armenians as justification.

[...] A reader reached out this week following our coverage of Palestinian statehood recognition this week and pointed out that it is “unconscionable that Israel continues to deny the Armenian Genocide and use the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians as a political cudgel for diplomacy and international relations.”

He certainly is not wrong. Recognition of a genocide—something clear as day to anyone with a basic definition of “genocide” and the clear data of the millions killed at the hands of the Ottoman Empire—should not coincide with diplomatic tiptoeing.

If Israel wants to be recognized on the international stage as a voice of sanity and of legitimate morality, it must do the moral thing.

Put the ego aside. Recognize the Armenian Genocide.

By doing so, it could help to make clear the Armenian government can't go through with the atrocious path they're taking that only awards the Religion of Peace that led to the horror of the the early 20th century.

Labels: anti-semitism, Armenia, dhimmitude, iran, islam, Israel, jihad, misogyny, Moonbattery, political corruption, racism, sexual violence, Spain, terrorism, war on terror