Israeli Knesset delegation to travel to Armenia to commemorate Armenian genocide centenary

YEREVAN, April 14. / ARKA /. An Israeli Knesset delegation will travel to Yerevan to join delegations from many other countries to commemorate the centenary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, newsru.co.il reported.

It said an initiative group of Israelis began collecting signatures under a petition calling for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israeli. The text of the petition is in three languages: English, Hebrew and Russian.

The report says the visit of the Knesset delegation does not mean a change in Israel’s official position on this issue, which is neither to recognize nor deny the Armenian Genocide. Israel appeared to move closer to officially recognizing the genocide in 2011 December when the Knesset held its first open discussion on the matter. 

By a unanimous vote of 20–0, Israel's parliament approved referring the subject to the Education Committee for more extensive deliberation. The speaker of Knesset told an Israel-based Armenian action committee that he intended to introduce an annual parliamentary session to mark the Armenian Genocide.

A special parliamentary session held by the Knesset in 2012 to determine if Israel will recognize the Armenian genocide ended inconclusively. Then speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin and Cabinet Minister Gilad Erdan were among those supporting formal recognition by the government. 

The recognition was not approved at that time and in 2015, Rafael Harpaz, Israel's ambassador to Azerbaijan, said in an interview that foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman made it clear that Israel will not recognize the Armenian genocide, given Israel's hopes that its political and economic relationship with Turkey can improve. -0-