Why does israel deny armenian genocide

Ankara funded chairs in Turkish studies at major US universities and tried to make sure that those in charge of these endowed chairs were in the denialist camp. Turkey also hired high-priced lobbyists in Washington to block congressional attempts at genocide recognition.

Turkish representatives also gave US Defense and State Department officials an earful whenever they would visit Turkey regarding the need to stop recognition efforts from going forward, threatening to close down US bases and end strategic ties if they did not toe the line. All of these efforts succeeded for many years to keep the recognition issue in abeyance.

Several of these factors changed over the past decade and a half, however. First, Armenian Americans essentially won the academic debate that what happened to their people was indeed a genocide, as Middle East scholars and genocide specialists came to support this view. Second, Armenian Americans pursued an effective outreach to American Jewish organizations, even shaming some of them for not recognizing that the Armenian people had suffered a fate similar to European Jews in World War II.

Another major group, the American Jewish Committee, also changed its position after many meetings with Armenian American leaders.

In addition, in more recent years the US Defense Department, usually the most pro-Turkish of Washington bureaucracies, came to see Ankara as an unreliable ally for allowing Islamist extremists to cross its borders to join the so-called Islamic State IS in Syria and Iraq as well as for its purchase of the Russian S missile system. The US military had partnered with these Syrian Kurds in the fight against IS and saw them as brave fighters who had suffered thousands of casualties.

By this point, most American Jewish groups had taken either a supportive or a neutral stand on the issue, and there was only a half-hearted attempt by the Departments of State and Defense to oppose it—unlike in previous years when these bureaucracies had lobbied vigorously against similar resolutions.

The biggest factor of all that led to the US recognition announcement was having President Biden in the White House, who was a longtime ally. The biggest factor of all was having a president in the White House who was a longtime ally.

Throughout his Senate career, Biden had been a supporter of Armenian Genocide recognition, and he attended the th anniversary commemorative event in at the Washington Cathedral when he was vice president under President Barack Obama. Hence, to the joy of the community, Biden kept his campaign promise and recognized the Armenian Genocide on April 24, Many Palestinians including Palestinian Americans want US recognition of their suffering, displacement, and dispossession, an act they believe would lead to a genuine and even-handed US approach for a just Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

In some respects, they face obstacles similar to those faced by Armenians, and perhaps even more so because the US-Israeli relationship is stronger than US-Turkish ties. Nonetheless, there are some lessons from the Armenian example that can be applied to their situation. Palestinian Americans face obstacles similar to those faced by Armenians, and even more so because the strong US-Israeli relationship. First, while early Arab immigrants to the United States mostly from Lebanon and Syria shared similar experiences with early Armenian immigrants, including initially being of humble backgrounds and living in insular communities, Palestinians who immigrated to America from the s onward have tended to be university students who excelled in the professions.

When one combines this group with the broader Arab American community, which has climbed the socioeconomic ladder in just a couple of generations, it is clear that Arab Americans now enjoy a status similar to that of Armenian Americans. With this increased status has come a greater awareness of the importance of participating in the US political system, as witnessed by the increasing number of Arab Americans in elected office today. This all portends a more effective lobbying effort in the coming years.

Arguably, however, the Palestinian cause in the United States has faced more obstacles because the US-Israel relationship is supported by many millions of Americans, including most evangelical Christians, beyond the majority of the traditionally supportive American Jewish community. In addition, the idea that the Israelis were the underdog in the conflict has been a pervasive narrative in the United States since , thus garnering more support for Israel.

Moreover, US assistance to Israel , especially since the late s, has dwarfed whatever US aid has been rendered to the Palestinians. Like Turkey, Israel has also been perceived in policy circles as a strategic asset. As victims of oppression, Armenians saw and continue to see the aggression in Nagorno-Karabakh as a continuation of the Armenian Genocide and an existential threat to their very existence.

Images have recently surfaced showing that a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Shushi has been razed by occupying Azeri forces. And the country had compelling reasons to refuse to change its stance toward Turkey and Azerbaijan, despite the egregious wrongs committed during the conflict. For years, Israel has seen Azerbaijan as a key ally when it comes to geopolitics, particularly because of its proximity to Iran for intelligence-gathering and military operations.

But all these considerations are proof that recognition of the Armenian Genocide has become a political football in Israel, a country that should be particularly aware of the consequences of genocide denial. In , Israeli lawmakers voted to debate recognizing the Armenian Genocide as relations between Israel and Turkey deteriorated.

But the debate went nowhere. Political expediency should play no role in this debate. Armenians and Jews share a common history that has been marked by persecution and mass suffering. To a certain degree, Azerbaijan has replaced Turkey as a market for Israeli military hardware. An Israeli company upgraded a private jet for Aliyev and had another one built for him. It also helped build an underground command and control center in the capital, Baku.

Some of the Israeli military technology, especially drones and artillery shells, were used against Armenian troops in skirmishes between the two enemies. In return, Azerbaijan sells oil to Israel and allows Israeli intelligence agencies to use its soil as a launching pad for operations against Iran.

Too often, the memory of the Holocaust has been used as an instrument of policy, not a moral compass. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism, the Baltic states and several Central European countries embarked on the path of historical revisionism and celebration of local anti-communists, who had collaborated with the Nazis in killing Jews during World War II. Yet Israeli governments largely turned a blind eye and chose trade deals and military cooperation over morality.

Even Yad Vashem barely protested. Whenever there is an anti-Semitic incident, even a minor one, in Western European democracies, the prime minister and his aides raise hell and call on European Union governments to take action against the perpetrators.

Poland offers another example of the Israeli double standard. Last year, Netanyahu accepted with hardly a hint of protest a Polish law that sought to punish any person who blames Poles for participating in the Holocaust. Only a public outcry forced him to modify his position, which led to an Israeli-Polish diplomatic crisis that remains unresolved. It is past time for Israel to stop its evasive language about Armenia in the service of crude economic interests.

A genocide is a genocide. Polish leaders thought peddling historical revisionism at home had no consequences; now, it could threaten two crucial alliances.

Shusha was the key to the recent war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Now Baku wants to turn the fabled fortress town into a resort.

Argument An expert's point of view on a current event. By Yossi Melman.