Netanyahu becomes first Israeli leader to recognize Armenian genocide
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the first head of an Israeli government to recognize the Ottoman Empire’s mass killings of Armenians that happened 110 years ago as a genocide, the Times of Israel reported on Wednesday.
In his podcast on Tuesday, US businessman Patrick Bet-David asked why Israel had not previously recognized the genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire against “Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks.”
Netanyahu replied: “I just did. You’re welcome.”
Around 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915 and 1916 during World War I, according to historians, through systematic killings under the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey, as the legal successor state, rejects the term genocide — meaning the deliberate extermination of the Armenian people through systematic methods — but acknowledges massacres of 300,000 to 500,000 people.
Until now, Israel had avoided an official recognition. There were several parliamentary initiatives, but none resulted in a formal vote.
Deteriorating relations with Turkey
Israel’s previous caution was largely due to considerations for its relationship with Turkey. However, ties have deteriorated further in recent years, particularly in light of Israel’s actions towards Palestinians. In 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
The US Congress recognized the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide in 2019. The German Bundestag did so in 2016, which at the time heavily strained German-Turkish relations.
