Strategy of lobbists

Author: Petr Lyukimson, Israel, exclusively to VK  In light of the recent discussion in the Knesset about recognition by Israel of the "Armenian genocide", the tactics and strategy of those who lobby the issue finally became clear. Held on Monday, December 26, the discussion in the Knesset's Committee on Education, Culture and Sports of the question of the recognition of the events of 1915 as "Armenian genocide" was clearly defined by one of the initiators of this discussion, the chairman of the coalition Zeev Elkin, as a "great success." In this case, Elkin said that it is important that such a discussion took place - because this topic was previously taboo within the walls of the Israeli Parliament. In addition, the participants in the discussion believe it to be a positive development that this issue was transferred from the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence (that is working on a policy position on all of major Israel issues) to the Commission on Education. This, they said, means that the issue of recognition of the "Armenian genocide" will be considered from the "purely moral" and not from a political point of view - ignoring the question of what consequences could result from this step in the international arena. The committee meeting partially revealed the mechanism of how the issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide is lobbied today in Israeli political circles. Prominent representatives of the Armenian Diaspora in Israel present at the meeting made almost no secret that they and their American compatriots have invested a lot of money to advance the issue.  With this money they hired a PR-agency, under the patronage of one of the former members of the Knesset. In recent years, this agency has organized trips to Armenia by several prominent Israeli academics and journalists in order to convince them that the events of 1915 in fact can be interpreted as an "Armenian genocide", drawing parallels with the Jewish Holocaust. The result of these visits was a number of books designed to introduce the Israeli public to the Armenian version of those old events, and widely covered this version in the Israeli media. Remarkably, all the committee "experts" listed their papers on "Armenian genocide" and told how warmly and hospitably they were received in Yerevan. Furthermore, that former Knesset member used his political connections to create a lobby for recognition of the "Armenian genocide" among  the various factions of the Israeli parliament representing different camps in Israeli politics, who in other questions were bitter rivals. Those who lobbied for recognition of the Armenian genocide included the current leader of the extreme left party Meretz Zahava Galon, and deputies from the rightist "National Unity" Aryeh Eldad and from the ruling party Likud Ze'ev Elkin. And it became clear that the purpose of these lobbyists is not a positive decision of the commission. All of them are quite experienced politicians, and realize that this decision, whatever it may be, has no effect - no one will allow members of the Commission on Education to harm the national interests of the country. Their goal is to create in the country and in the Knesset a climate in which any attempt to challenge the fact of "Armenian genocide" and to oppose its recognition would be perceived as immoral, and any politician doing so would risk his career. When this climate is created, the Gal-Elkin Eldad bill "On recognition of the Armenian genocide of 1915" will be submitted to vote in the Knesset, and then even the opponents of the bill will choose to abstain or to leave the room at the time of voting, rather than speak out against it and be branded as "immoral people."The crisis in Israeli-Turkish relations could help the lobbyists of the bill, becoming a catalyst for its promotion and creating the necessary atmosphere for its acceptance in society.