Lawmakers urge Israel to recognize Armenian GenocideApril 24, 2019 - 12:29 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Lawmakers called on Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide on its annual memorial day Wednesday, April 24, The Jerusalem Post reports. Blue and White co-leader Yair Lapid said “the time has come for Israel to officially recognize the genocide of the Armenian people and stop giving in to Turkish pressure. “We have a moral and historic responsibility to remember the genocide and to stand behind ‘never again,’” he added on twitter. “This is true for every nation.” Lapid said he plans to re-propose his bill to recognize the Armenian Genocide and expressed hope the coalition will support it. The Armenian Genocide began in 1915, with the Ottoman Empire slaughtering 1.5 million Armenians. As of April 2019, 30 governments and parliaments officially recognize the Genocide. Meretz MK Mossi Raz tweeted: “Today we mark the holocaust of the Armenian people. A third of them were murdered by the Turks. The time has come for Israel to officially recognize the Armenian genocide.” Israeli policy has been not to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide, at first to avoid antagonizing Turkey. The policy has not changed despite increased tensions with Ankara over the past decade, in part because of warm ties with Azerbaijan, whose proximity to Iran makes it a strategic ally, important to Israeli security. Azerbaijan is in an ongoing conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Knesset Education Committee voted to recognize Armenian Genocide in the past, but it was not been approved in the form of a bill that would be binding for the government. In 2015, Israel sent a delegation of two MKs to Yerevan for the official memorial event marking 100 years since the genocide began. Top stories The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. London’s Armenian community has been left feeling “under attack” after the city’s Genocide monument was vandalised. Partner news | Armenia to participate in key EU meeting for the first time ever National Assembly speaker Alen Simonyan has said that Armenia will for the first time participate in the Conference. Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. |