Israeli Recognition of Armenian Genocide Needs Serious Work says Former Israeli Lawmaker

JERUSALEM (Armenpress)—Former Israeli lawmaker, founder of the Israel-Armenia inter-parliamentary friendship group Alexander Tsinker says it is possible to achieve recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel, however, serious works must be done towards that path.
“It is the third time within recent years that the issue of the Armenian Genocide is being raised in the Israeli Parliament. Previously, it has always remained in the Committees without having further developments, but now in less than a month, the Committee discussed it and made a decision to recognize the 1915 killings as genocide. I think the next step will be the discussion of that resolution adopted by the Committee in the Parliament’s plenary session,” he said in an interview.
He said this stage of the process is very important and it is necessary to be properly prepared for the further works.
“It is necessary to carry out works not only within the Israeli MPs, but also the Israeli society. Now a favorable condition is being created for carrying out more intensive lobby over the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, especially in case when the conducted surveys definitely show that the Israeli citizens support this issue. I think today the Government of Armenia must really support the Israeli NGOs which try on their own to inform the Israeli public about the tragedy of the Armenian people,” Tsinker said.
In this regard, Tsinker suggests holding debates, round-table discussions, exhibitions and youth flash mobs.
“In these circumstances, a concrete project and a document of fulfilling the goals are necessary since the activities of the public are not enough. We must not sit and wait for the issue to be solved independently. It is not a secret that this decision is not related only with the original problem. Here there are of course regional policy issues as well. The implementation of the above-mentioned steps is, of course, time consuming, but it is better since during this period the Israeli leadership will manage to once again reveal the real face of Turkey. They must understand that a historical truth exists, and any political interest cannot cast a shadow on the attempt of eliminating an entire nation by the Ottoman Turkey,” Tsinker said.
On July 5, the third debate on the Armenian Genocide issue took place in the Israeli Parliament. The debate was initiated by Zehava Gal-On, President of the Meretz party. The Israeli Parliament sent the Armenian Genocide resolution to the Education, Culture and Sports Committee.
On August 1, the Committee recognized the Armenian Genocide.