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Israel's selective memory on Armenian genocide

The German resolution recognizing the 1915 Armenian genocide highlights Israel's refusal to do so and its preference of political considerations over a moral stance.
Turkish demonstrators stage a protest against approval of a resolution by Germany's parliament that declares the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a "genocide" in front of the German Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, June 3, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTX2FHV5

News broadcasts on Israeli TV June 2 were dominated by two stories. The first reported that the German parliament had voted to recognize the World War I massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks as genocide. The resolution was approved by a majority of lawmakers from all parties, headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats. In response, Ankara recalled its ambassador from Berlin “for consultations.” The second news report heralded a breakthrough in negotiations between Israel and Turkey on settling the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla crisis and easing the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Officials in Jerusalem predict the Turkish ambassador, who was recalled back to Ankara at the time, will soon be reinstated in Tel Aviv.

Reacting to the German Bundestag’s decision, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused Germany of an “irresponsible and groundless” stance vis-a-vis the history of another nation. He wrote on Twitter that Germany’s decision was motivated by a desire to “close the dark pages” of its own history. The state of the Jewish people, whose blood is saturated with German history, prefers the more noncommittal term “tragedy” — in official communiques — in describing the disaster that befell the Armenian people. Not only that, but Israel mobilized American Jewry in a campaign to thwart US recognition of the genocide carried out by the Turks against the Armenians.

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