Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced he will bring a formal proposal to the next Israeli cabinet session to ...

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced he will bring a formal proposal to the next Israeli cabinet session to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide, calling it a "moral and historical duty." Sa'ar said the recognition of the genocide committed against the Armenian people in the final years of the Ottoman Empire is something Israel is obligated to pursue. He added that Israel must also "clearly condemn any denial, downplaying, or distortion of historical truth." The proposal, once approved by cabinet, would then go to the Knesset for a full parliamentary vote. The timing is significant. Israel and Turkey have had a deeply strained relationship for years, and Ankara has long and aggressively lobbied against international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. An official Israeli recognition would deal a serious diplomatic blow to Turkey, which still refuses to acknowledge that the mass killings of Armenians between 1915 and 1923 constituted genocide. More than 30 countries have formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, including the United States, France, and Germany. Israel, despite its own history of genocide with the Holocaust, had for decades avoided recognition largely due to strategic ties with Turkey. Sa'ar's announcement signals a clear shift in that calculus. If the Knesset votes in favor, Israel would join a growing list of nations that have formally labeled the Ottoman-era killings for what historians have long concluded they were. #Armenia #ArmenianGenocide #Israel