Two members of the Israeli parliament will reportedly represent Israel at the upcoming commemorations in Yerevan of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire.
“The Jerusalem Post” reported on Tuesday that the Israeli government asked the Knesset to send a delegation to Armenia after being formally invited by the Armenian authorities to the April 24 ceremonies. It said the Knesset delegation will comprise two members: Anat Berko of the Likud party and Nachman Shai of the Zionist Union alliance.
“This is an event of deep historic significance," Shai told the paper. "For the first time in 100 years, the international community is finally recognizing the great injustice.”
“The Jewish people sometimes don't like it when other nations use the word holocaust, but it certainly was one. It's just like what the Nazis did to the Jews,” he said, referring to the 1915 slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks.
Shai acknowledged that the Jewish state is reluctant to send a more high-level delegation to Yerevan for fear of upsetting Turkey. “We're a small country and can't fight with everyone all the time,” he told “The Jerusalem Post.”
Successive Israeli governments have given the same explanation for their refusal to formally recognize the Armenian genocide. A growing number of Israeli politicians and pundits have been calling for a revision of this policy. Israel’s largely ceremonial President Reuven Rivlin advocated genocide recognition when he served as Knesset speaker in 2012.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met with Rivlin last month when he visited Israel to attend a concert by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra dedicated to the genocide centennial. “Few nations have as many similarities as Armenians and Jews do,” Nalbandian said during the trip.