FM to propose cabinet resolution to officially recognize Ottoman genocide of Armenians

Proposal cites ‘moral and historical obligation’ for Israel to recognize the WWI atrocities as genocide, in move likely to provoke rival Turkey

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar plans to propose on Sunday a cabinet resolution to officially recognize the genocide against the Armenian people during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, his office announced Thursday, in a move that will no doubt provoke rival Turkey.

Armenians have long sought international recognition of the killings in the early 20th century, which reportedly left some 1.5 million of their people dead, as a genocide. Turkey — the Ottoman Empire’s successor state — strongly rejects the allegation that the massacres, imprisonment and forced deportation of Armenians amounted to genocide.

Jerusalem has previously refrained from recognizing the World War I atrocities as genocide over fears it could harm its relationship with Ankara. However, with ties deteriorating sharply since Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rose to power, particularly following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza — where the Turkish leader has claimed genocide, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year said for the first time that he recognized the genocide.

“Despite extensive and unequivocal historical documentation, the Armenian Genocide remains the subject of an organized campaign of denial and minimization, including the manipulative rewriting of history books, primarily by Turkey,” the explanatory text for the proposal says.

“In light of this moral and historical obligation, it is proposed that the Government of Israel recognize the genocide committed against the Armenian people during the final years of the Ottoman Empire. In addition, given ongoing attempts to blur, minimize, or deny the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide, the proposal calls for condemning all efforts to distort the historical truth of these events.”

Following the cabinet vote, the measure will then come before the Knesset for approval, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

There was no immediate reaction to Sa’ar’s announcement by Turkey, which last August claimed that “Netanyahu’s remarks concerning the events of 1915 are an attempt to exploit past tragedies for political motives.”