Genocide Commemoration Day bill to be discussed at June 22 Knesset plenary sitting

June 20, 2011 - 21:13 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Israel's Armenian community and Hay Dat Jerusalem Office set major hopes on the discussion of a bill on Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day in Israel.

As Georgetta Avakian, head of Hay Dat Jerusalem Office told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the draft law will be discussed at Knesset plenary sitting on June 22. “We've got in touch with parliamentarians urging them to pass the bill. We're grateful to the draft law initiator Aryeh Eldad and hope Israel will sooner or later recognise the Armenian Genocide,” she said.

The Israeli ministerial legislative committee has rejected an Armenian Genocide bill submitted by Knesset member Aryeh Eldad.

Eldad suggested that the Armenian Genocide should be included in the school curriculum and taught on every April 24 to be declared the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. He called on the government “not to be afraid of Turkey.”

Eldad is confident that “the parliamentarians support his initiative but are scared to vote in favour.” “Unfortunately, I was not present at the discussion, but I am not going to give up and will raise the issue at the Knesset’s plenary session,” he said.

In May, Knesset transferred discussion of a bill on recognition of the Armenian Genocide to the committee on culture and education. Meanwhile, members of Israel Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party exclude possibility of its adoption.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.