The Israeli government has unanimously approved a proposal to recognize the violence against Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide, the Associated Press reported.
The move, which is yet to be approved by parliament, reflects deteriorating relations between Israel and Turkey, the AP notes. Ankara has been lobbying for years against international recognition of the mass killings of Armenians around 1915 as genocide, despite Armenian insistence.
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Turks around World War I, an event widely considered by scholars to be the first genocide of the 20th century.
Turkey rejects the term "genocide," arguing that the death toll is exaggerated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
For years, Israel avoided raising the issue officially so as not to sour its relations with Ankara, but they have become strained over the past two decades, especially in recent years, amid the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
“Despite extensive and unambiguous historical documentation, the Armenian Genocide remains a mystery to this day "subject to an institutionalized campaign of denial and belittling, including through manipulative rewriting of history, primarily by the Turkish government," said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who submitted the proposal to the government.
He noted that Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have in the past defined the violence against Armenians as genocide, but no formal vote has been held in the Israeli Knesset so far.
“It is never too late to do the right thing,“ Saar wrote on the social network X, calling the decision a “moral and historical obligation“.
He added that 32 countries, including the United States, Syria and Lebanon, have already recognized the events as genocide.
It is not yet clear when the resolution, approved unanimously by the Israeli government, will be submitted for a vote in parliament.
Turkey tonight strongly condemned Israel's decision, calling it a "political" decision to cover up its own crimes.
"The Israeli government, which systematically persecutes the Palestinian people in front of the whole world and is on trial by the International Court of Justice for genocide against the people of Gaza, is trying to cover up its own crimes with a political decision taken regarding the events of 1915," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Israel and Turkey have historically maintained close allied relations, but these have deteriorated since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power, leading to a shift in Israeli stance.
Israeli authorities have faced accusations, including from the UN and Turkey, that they committed genocide with their offensive in the Gaza Strip. Israel denies these accusations.
Romanian Jews played a significant role in the founding and development of the State of Israel and continue to serve as a living bridge between Romania and the Jewish people, Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog said today in the northeastern Romanian city of Iasi, Agerpres reported.
He made the remarks at a memorial ceremony marking the 85th anniversary of the Iasi Pogrom, when thousands of Romanian Jews were massacred during the Holocaust in 1941.
Herzog is on a state visit to Romania today and tomorrow, along with Israel's first lady Michal Herzog.
Herzog, who took part in the 12th edition of the “March of the Living” in Iași, held in memory of the victims of the June 1941 pogrom, thanked the Romanian authorities “for their commitment to combating anti-Semitism and preserving the memory of the Holocaust“.
“Romanian Jews played an essential role in the founding and development of the State of Israel and continue to serve as a living bridge between Romania and the Jewish people. In a time of resurgent anti-Semitism, we share the responsibility to defend truth, memory and human dignity. "I thank the mayor of Iași, Mihai Cîrîca, as well as the president (of Romania, Nicos Dan), the parliament and the government of Romania for their commitment to combating anti-Semitism and preserving the memory of the Holocaust (...) Today, I look back, I mourn the dead and I recite the Kaddish prayer in their memory, for the sake of our past and for our future," said Yitzhak Herzog.
The ceremony, which was attended by Romanian officials, representatives of the Jewish community and Israeli delegations, marked the 85th anniversary of the Iași pogrom, one of the darkest episodes in Romania's history, the agency noted.
“Today I have come from Jerusalem, with the blessing of the people of Israel, with deep humility and emotion, to fulfill, as President of the State of Israel, this solemn duty of remembrance. This tribute to the thousands of Jewish women, men, children and elderly people murdered on this land – in Iași and its surroundings – between June 28 and July 6, 1941, cannot erase the suffering of the victims. It does not diminish the moral guilt of the perpetrators. It cannot undo the crimes, the humiliations, the beatings or the death trains orchestrated from the highest levels but carried out by people from all walks of life during those terrible summer days 85 years ago. Nor does it help us answer this simple but burning question: how? How can such cruelty, spread throughout society, be understood? "How is it possible that in a great European city that has been a thriving center of Jewish life for centuries, the image of God in humanity has been erased? The only answer to this disturbing question is deafening silence," the Israeli president said.
He also recalled that the first version of Israel's national anthem, "Atiqva" ("Hope"), was written in Iași by the poet Naftali Herz Imber.
As part of Herzog's visit to Romania, he is expected to meet with Romanian President Nikusor Dan at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace tomorrow, followed by an address to the Romanian Parliament.