“Genocide” in Knesset

On December, 26 the Knesset’s Commission for education, culture and sports discussed the possibility of official recognition of the genocide of Armenians by the Turkish government in 1915. In the course of this discussion the strategy of those who lobby for this decision revealed itself. According to one of the initiators of this project, Zaev Elkin, the very fact that the discussion was held is a success, as previously the Israeli parliament as always passed over this question with silence.

Another victory for the partisans of recognition of the ‘Armenian genocide’ is that this issue was transferred from the jurisdiction of the parliamentary commission for foreign affairs, which defines the state’s foreign policy, and given to the commission for education. According to the lobbyists, this will allow the parliament to view the issue from a purely moral perspective, without getting involved in politics – regardless of the consequences for Israel’s position on the international stage.

During the commission’s sitting, representatives of the Armenian diasopora didn’t try to hide the fact that they had invested a lot of money into promoting the issue of the ‘genocide’ . A whole PR-agency run by an ex-Knesset member was working on this task. This agency organized a series of visits by Israeli historians and journalists to Armenia in order to convince them that the events of 1915 are by their nature the same as the Holocaust. These experts, in their turn, authored a great number of books and TV programs that were called on to convince the Israeli public of the same thing.

Later on, this ex-Knesset member used his political connections to create a parliamentary lobby to promote recognition of the ‘genocide’ in the Knesset. It is interesting that members of different political factions, who compete amongst themselves in all other cases, joined this campaign. Even the speaker of the parliament and most likely the next Israeli president, Reuven Rivlin, joined this group. All these politicians are sincere in their conviction that they are doing the right and the moral thing, but they are clearly acting without any regard towards the possible political consequences for the country.
It is now clear that the lobbyists are not trying to make the commission adopt a positive decision – all of them are experienced enough to understand that no one would allow the commission for education to ruin the state’s foreign policy. They are simply trying to create an atmosphere in which any attempt to deny the ‘genocide' would be viewed as immoral. And when this atmosphere spreads, other political powers, greater than that of the commission for education, will propose the bill on the ‘Armenian genocide’  - and its opponents will have no choice but to remain silent or to leave the session, as otherwise they would risk having a reputation as being immoral.

The crisis in Turkish-Israeli relations plays into the hands of the lobbyists, as it supports an appropriate public attitude towards the problem. According to Israeli media experts, some 600,000 dollars were invested into the promotion of the ‘Armenian genocide’ issue.

By Peter Lukimson, exclusively to VK