For the first time, an Israeli prime minister has seemingly recognized the Ottoman massacre of Armenians more than a century ago as genocide.
During an Aug. 26 appearance on Patrick Bet-David’s podcast, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked why he had yet to recognize the killing of as many as 1.5 million Christians from three different nations at the hands of the Ottoman Empire — now modern-day Turkey — between the years of 1915 to 1917.
“Why haven’t you yet recognized the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocide that the Turkish did to that community?” Bet-David asked Netanyahu. “If you step foot in their country, they’re supposed to arrest you. They’re calling you a wartime criminal. The offenses you’ve done, they’re calling it a genocide.”
“I think we have,” Netanyahu replied in response to his question about an Armenian genocide declaration. “I think the Knesset passed a resolution to that effect.”
It’s not clear which resolution the prime minister was referring to. While there have been proposed bills recognizing the Armenian genocide, no such resolution has passed the Israeli legislative body.
“I don’t know if it’s come from you, though,” Bet-David responded. “I don’t know if it’s come from the prime minister of Israel.”
“Yeah, I just did,” said Netanyahu. “OK? Here you go.”
Despite Netanyahu’s comments, Israeli lawmakers have yet to officially recognize the Armenian genocide, despite a growing community of an estimated 8,000 Armenians living in Israel.
In 2018, Israeli lawmakers canceled a vote to recognize the World War I killings of Armenians as genocide, reportedly due to a “lack of government support.”
While Uruguay was the first nation in the world to recognize the Armenian genocide in 1965, only 33 other countries have since taken the same step.
Long considered one of the most sensitive topics in geopolitics, the U.S. officially recognized the 1915 Armenian genocide for the first time under former President Ronald Reagan and most recently under former President Joe Biden.
Biden’s predecessors — including President Donald Trump in his first term — chose not to use the term “genocide” in annual statements “due to pressure from the Turkish government,” according to persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern.
Following Biden’s announcement, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of NATO-member Turkey urged the U.S. to rescind its recognition, claiming the announcement opened a “deep wound” and would be the “wrong step” in U.S.-Turkey ties.
“The U.S. president has made baseless, unjust and untrue remarks about the sad events that took place in our geography over a century ago,” Erdogan said. “I hope the U.S. president will turn back from this wrong step as soon as possible.”
Netanyahu’s comments came just days before Turkey closed its airspace on Friday to Israeli government and military armament planes. Turkey also shut its ports to maritime trade partners doing business with Israel.
Erdogan’s move is seen as a response to Israeli military action in Gaza, which the Turkish prime minister has described as genocide, according to the Associated Press.
