Akiva Eldar
As long as I can remember, I've known that
there was only one unique Holocaust in the history of humankind. We
learned that the Armenians had suffered a “genocide” and that “a
people’s massacre” had been perpetrated in Rwanda. We learned that
Israel’s Arab citizens experienced a catastrophe, known in Arabic as the
“Nakba,” when the state was established 70 years ago and they were
uprooted from their homes. We were told that the use of the term
“Shoah,” Hebrew for “Holocaust,” to characterize atrocities committed
after World War II does a moral and historic injustice to the 6 million
Jews exterminated by the Nazis.
Knesset member Amir Ohana, also of the Likud, drew a direct line between
Nazi crimes and the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenian
people by Ottoman forces during World War I. “When Hitler presented the
Wehrmacht officers with his plan for mass extermination,” Ohana wrote on
Facebook, “he reassured those worried about the reaction of the world
by saying: ‘After all, who mentions the extermination of the Armenian
people anymore?’" He added, “If for no other reason, that is why we
should have already recognized this murder officially.” An original and
winning argument? Not really. A quick glance through the Knesset
minutes from February reveals that Yair Lapid, chair
of the Yesh Atid opposition party, presented this argument virtually
word for word three months ago to present proposed legislation
recognizing the Armenian genocide.
“The question facing the Knesset today is not a practical one, it is
not a foreign relations issue, it is a fundamental moral issue,” Lapid
said. “Can we as Jews ignore a holocaust?” Himself the son of a
Holocaust survivor, the late Knesset member Yosef Lapid, he added that
the State of Israel could not afford to ignore the genocide of another
people, the murder of its children, women and elderly. “It is not moral,
it is not just and we have a commitment,” Lapid concluded. And how did
his fellow Knesset colleague Ohana vote? Like the 15 other Likud members
who bothered turning up for the debate, he voted “nay.” So did the
Knesset members of Bennett’s HaBayit HaYehudi. Their leader, along with
the Likud’s Erdan, skipped the vote altogether. Deputy Minister Michael Oren,
who said during a 2015 Knesset debate, “It’s time for us as a state to
recognize the massacre of the Armenians and do it justice and close the
circle,” also voted against the proposed bill. So did all the members of
his center-right Kulanu. The Knesset voted down the proposal to recognize the Armenian genocide by 41 to 28.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely informed the Knesset in that
same session that her ministry was opposed to the legislation proposed
by Lapid’s party. She conceded that it was important to recognize the
suffering of the Armenian people and the tragedy they experienced, but
despite “our deep identification with them stemming from the experience
of the Jewish people, there’s no room to take a stand on the issue.” She
went on to explain, “Given the complexity and the diplomatic
repercussions, and the clear political context, there’s no place for a
step that could necessarily be interpreted as recognition of the
Armenian genocide.” Hotovely added, “This situation is not expected to
change anytime soon.”
It is unclear yet whether the verbal clash between Netanyahu and
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the killing of Palestinians
during violent demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel border changed the
“situation” to such an extent that the government is at long last
heeding calls for recognition of the Armenian genocide. But if it does
so, the world in general and the Armenians in particular will see
through the claims of morality and
conscience and recognize the move for what it is: taking cynical
advantage of a genocide to exact diplomatic retribution and score PR
points.
It's true that joining the 29 other states, among them 11 members of
the European Union, that have recognized the genocide would undermine
the prospects of eventual reconciliation with Erdogan’s regime.
To resolve its previous contretemps with Turkey over the 2010 Mavi
Marmara flotilla that sought to breach the Israeli siege of Gaza, Israel
relented and paid compensation to Turkish victims of its commando raid
on the vessel. It will not be able to go back on its recognition of the
Armenian genocide. Such decisions cannot be made in the heat of the
moment, nor as public relations ploys. The Talmud had this to say about
such situations: “Woe unto me from my creator and woe unto me from my
inclination."
Knesset member Yair Tzaban (Meretz), who first proposed recognition
of the Armenian genocide some 30 years ago, told Al-Monitor that such a
move now would raise an issue of Jewish law that questions the value of a
good deed born in sin. Tzaban suggests instead adopting the approach of
conscientious Israelis who take a stand on each issue on its merits
rather than conducting moralistic scorekeeping. The opportunity now
emerging for Israeli recognition of the genocide, he advised, should not
be missed.
Turkish criticism of the current right-wing Israeli government, harsh
as it may be, “will not turn me into a fan of Erdogan and his dark and
oppressive regime, which have inflicted deep scars on the bodies and
souls of Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian freedom fighters and lovers of
democracy,” Tzaban said. At the same time, he added, no condemnation of
Erdogan and of Hamas rulers of Gaza will
blunt his harsh criticism of Netanyahu and Co. for leading Israel on a
dangerous road that stifles the Jewish people’s hopes of national
revival and of peace.
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