Israeli lawmakers submit bill to recognize Armenian Genocide
Posted on November. 10. 2021
YEREVAN, /ARKA/. Several opposition members of Israeli Knesset have submitted a bill Tuesday to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide and hold a memorial day for it every April 24, The Jerusalem Post reports.
The bill was submitted by Shas MKs Ya’acov Margi, Haim Biton and Moshe Arbel alongside Likud MKs Yuli Edelstein, Israel Katz and Yoav Kish.
This is not the fist time an attempt has been made in the Knesset for Israel to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.
In 2018, Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg proposed a bill to recognize the massacre as genocide, but the bill was canceled due to government resistance.
In 2019, a number of high-profile members of Knesset like Yair Lapid and Gideon Sa’ar voiced support for the move, but again it did not proceed due to little government support.
The Armenian Genocide of 1915 is the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey rejects accusations of the mass extermination of more than one and a half million Armenians during the World War I and reacts extremely painfully to criticism from the West regarding the Armenian genocide.
The Armenian Genocide is recognized by many states and a number of authoritative international organizations. The first country to recognize the Genocide in 1965 was Uruguay, followed by Cyprus, Russia, Greece, Canada, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Lebanon, Belgium, France, Paraguay, Argentina, Sweden, Bolivia, Great Britain, Holland, Slovakia, Germany, Lithuania , Venezuela, Poland, Chile, Switzerland, Brazil, Luxembourg, Austria, Vatican, Czech Republic, Denmark, Portugal, as well as the interim government of Libya, US, Syria, European Parliament, World Council of Churches .