JERUSALEM—The expected vote for Israel to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide is no longer on the Knesset’s agenda this week, after Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein pulled the item on Monday.
Edelstein, who has continually supported recognition for years, has reportedly pulled the item from the parliamentary agenda, since it was unclear if there would be a majority in favor of the bill.
The vote was originally was set for May 29, after a motion to do so was approved 16-0.
Parliamentarian Tamar Zandberg, who had originally proposed the vote said that Edelstein decision is political and urged the Knesset to “do what was right.”
“Holding this debate, with a historic vote to recognize, is the right thing to do. Some preferred politics to doing the right thing,” Zandberg said at a Meretz faction meeting Monday, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post. “The Knesset should do what it promised. This is a matter of historic justice,” she went on.
The Jerusalem Post stressed that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel could lead to a outrage Turkey and Azerbaijan. Israel’s relationship with Turkey recently hit a new low after diplomatic envoys were expelled on both sides after Turkey’s outspoken stance on the death of several Palestinians by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip.
Both Edelstein and Zandberg have said that the matter of recognizing the Armenian Genocide should be not be viewed as a way to get back at Turkey.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has not made any official statements about recognition of genocide. In previous years, it had openly opposed similar motions.
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Source: Armenian Weekly
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