Strange meeting of Israeli parliament

On Tuesday the Israeli parliament debated whether to recognize the alleged Armenian genocide of 1915. After the meeting, the leader of the ruling coalition, Zeev Elkin, announced that the lawmakers came close to recognition. It's quite clear, however, that this was the strangest meeting in the history of the Israeli parliament.

The bill was proposed by Zahava Galon, the chair of the dovish Meretz party, and Arye Eldad of the Ihud Leumi party.
   
Before the meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Bebjamin Netanyahu asked the parliamentary speaker, Reuven Rivlin, not to include the issue on the agenda, but the speaker ignored Netanyahu's request. The speaker's decision seemed very extraordinary. 

Before the meeting, representatives of the Armenian disapora in Israel and former members of parliament who supported the initiative stormed the house of parliament.

The meeting was opened by the speaker, who said that it was his own duty as a lawmaker, as a Jew and as a human being to secure the adoption of the bill.

Reuven Rivlin denied the debate was related to the deteriorating ties with Turkey. “The Turks will definitely be angry, but there is no intention to provoke, only to remember,” he said. “The free world must remember, to learn the lessons so it won’t happen again.”

"How can we demand the recognition of our tragedy," the speaker asked, referring to the Holocaust, "If we do not recognize the tragedies of other people?" 

Zahava Galon, Dova Khanina, Nisim Zeev and Nino Abesadze, who addressed the assembly next, underlined that the bill was not politically motivated, but sought truth and justice. "Of course, one cannot compare the Armenian genocide of 1915 with the Holocaust, but it still should be recognized," one of them said. 

Some members even said that Ottoman Turks killed 90 per cent of the Armenian people, but when MP Robert Tivlyayev tried to explain that this was simply not true, he was interrupted harshly by the speaker.

MP Nisim Zeev acknowledged that mass killing of the Armenian population took place after Armenians started pro-Russian riots. Even though Zeev also called for recognition of the genocide.

It seems that Israeli lawmakers simply don't understand that the intiative will spoil already unstable Turkish-Israeli relations and damage Israel's national interests.

Robert Tivyayev of the Kadima party was the only one to openly oppose the bill. "The issue is very complicated. I believe first of all it should be examined by Turkish and Armenian historians. Israel should not interfere right now. It will only spoil our relations with Turkey," he said.

Tivlyayev's speech was interrupted by the speaker, who said "Thank you, Mister Tivyayev. Your position is quite clear. You oppose recognition of the Armenian tragedy as such."

Ending the meeting, the speaker said that the issue will also be discussed by the parliamentary commission for education.

Commenting on the issue, former head of the commission Alex Miller underlined that the speaker's position is not crucial. The speaker has the power to put this or that problem on the agenda, but he has no power to secure particular results of voting. Miller's own position is that the Armnenian genocide should be discussed by academicians and not by lawmakers.


Pyotr Lyukimson, Israel. Exclusively to VK