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#1 MosJan

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Posted 25 April 2013 - 03:19 PM

Israeli official: we have moral obligation to remember human tragedies

Posted Image
April 24, 2013 - 09:18 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Both coalition and opposition members of the Knesset on Tuesday, April 23 commemorated the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Turks, despite Israeli government’s efforts to patch things up with Turkey over the raid on the Gaza flotilla three years ago in which eight Turkish nationals died, Haaretz reports.
During and after World War I, about 1.5 million Armenians died; the anniversary of the killings is marked on April 24. Because of Jerusalem's past close relations with Ankara, the government has never officially recognized the events as genocide, Haaretz says.
“How many of us are really familiar with the Armenian holocaust? Why are we indifferent when Turkey does not take responsibility?” said MK Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi). “We must confront our silence and that of the world in the face of such horrors. No country stood by the Armenians. No one cared about the genocide in Rwanda.”
MK Israel Hasson (Kadima) called on his colleagues to support the Armenian people. “We’ve formed an Israeli-Armenian friendship association, and I call on any MKs who want to express solidarity to join it, even if the government has difficulty formulating a statement.”
MK Reuven Rivlin (Likud), a former Knesset speaker, said “Turkey is and will be an ally of Israel. The talks with Turkey are understandable and even necessary from a strategic and diplomatic perspective. But those circumstances cannot justify the Knesset ignoring the tragedy of another people.”
MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) referred to the reconciliation talks with Turkey as “an important and strategic process that I wholeheartedly support, but it needn’t influence recognition of the massacre of the Armenian people. It's not that we have to either recognize the genocide or have relations with Turkey; we can do both. The link between the two harms Israel and its foreign relations.”
Ofir Akunis, a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Office, said that “as Jews and Israelis we have a moral obligation to remember human tragedies. One of them was the massacre of the Armenian people. The State of Israel has never denied these terrible events.”
According to Akunis, “Investigating the related events must be done through open debate, not by political declarations.”
In the end, the MKs decided that the Knesset House Committee would choose which committee would conduct a broader debate on the issue.

#2 Yervant1

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Posted 11 July 2014 - 10:04 AM

ISRAEL AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

July 9, 2014

By Simone Zoppellaro

"Whoever thought of the Final Solution got the impression that,
when the day comes, the world will be silent, like it was about the
Armenians. It is hard for me to forgive other nations for ignoring
our tragedy and we cannot ignore another nation's tragedy. That is
our moral obligation as people and Jews."

Reuven Rivlin

President of Israel

Next year the centennial of the Armenian genocide will be remembered.

In the international debate on recognition, a special position is
that of Israel

For a long time the issue of the Armenian Genocide has been
considered taboo by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Over the
years, attempts to obtain its public recognition have been vetoed by
different governments, worried that the move would jeopardize relations
with the main strategic ally of Israel in the region at that time,
Turkey. And this regardless of the fact that, since the very first
years following the events, several in the Jewish world and in the
Zionist movement itself raised voices of sympathy and condolence for
a tragedy that in many ways heralded the horrors of the Holocaust.

Mavi Marmara

Things started to move only in the aftermath of the Freedom Flotilla
incident on May 31, 2010, when six ships of activists flying American,
Swedish, Turkish and Greek flags attempted to break the Gaza Strip
blockade imposed by Israel to bring humanitarian aid to the civilian
population. On that occasion, the largest ship, the MV Mavi Marmara,
was stormed by Israeli special forces, with an operation that cost life
to nine Turkish activists and caused the suspension of diplomatic
relations between the two countries. A crisis that, despite the
American mediation, hasn't been mended yet.

Less than a year after the events, in May 2011, the Knesset addressed
the issue of the Armenian genocide for the first time in a public
session, following the proposal of Zehava Gal-On, an MP from the
leftist Meretz. For years, proposals like the one of Gal-On had been
scuppered by successive governments, with the idea that the issue
should be addressed "through an open debate based on data and facts,
and not on political decisions or declarations," according to the
words used in 2009 by Likud Minister Gilad Erdan. Or, to put it in a
nutshell: outside of the parliament. However, this time no veto came,
and the issue was discussed openly.

The Azeri factor

Still, a new strategic factor of Israeli foreign policy derailed
once more the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Knesset:
the increasingly close relationship - in political, economic and
military terms - between Israel and Azerbaijan. A relationship,
quoting the words of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made
public by Wikileaks, which is like an iceberg: "nine-tenths of it is
below the surface."

The Azerbaijani government, opposed to Armenia cause of the unresolved
issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, claimed by Baku as part of its national
territory, adverses any international recognition of the Armenian
genocide. For this purpose, it uses lobbying and diplomatic pressure
against countries willing to do so. In the case of Israel, Azerbaijan
found a great ally in the far-right nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu.

The following are the words pronounced on May 18, 2011 by the Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of Yisrael Beiteinu, Danny
Ayalon: "There is no chance that the Knesset would recognize the
Armenian Genocide. It is impossible. We cannot afford ourselves to
deface relations with our main strategic partner in the Muslim world
- Azerbaijan - for some vexed historical questions concerning events
that took place hundred years ago." Thus, also in 2011 the question
of genocide was archived.

The Erdogan speech

However, a more significant change of course occurred in recent months,
when the issue of the Israeli recognition of the Armenian genocide
came back into the international limelight, raising new hopes in
Yerevan and among the Armenian diaspora. A decisive contribution,
according to what reported by the Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar in
Al-Monitor, was given by the speech delivered by the Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the eve of the 99th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide, on April 23.

The speech, though far from recognizing a genocidal will in the
massacres that took place in the Ottoman Empire starting from 1915,
represented a significant - and in many ways unexpected - step forward
in the issue. For the first time, in fact, a Turkish Prime Minister
addressed his condolences to "our Armenian citizens and all Armenians
around the world".

This, apparently, would have produced a certain embarrassment in Tel
Aviv, in a political establishment still torn between the desire not
to jeopardize relations with the old and new allies mentioned above,
and the need to take a stand on an issue that becomes more and more
hardly avoidable. This, in particular, with the centenary celebration
of the Armenian genocide just round the corner, in 2015.

Some steps taken recently by the influential American Jewish
community were of great importance in the direction of a change. Thus,
Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman, after years
of denial, finally admitted last May that what happened at the expense
of the Armenians during WWI can be defined as genocide. Or, just a
few days before, the publication of a "tribute to memories of the
victims of the Metz Yeghern" signed by the American Jewish Committee,
which has provoked a strong protest from the Turkish Ambassador in
Washington, Serdar Kılıc.

Reuven Rivlin

But, most of all, what arouse significant hopes was the election
to Presidency of Republic of Reuven Rivlin (picture), on June
10. Greeted with jubilation by the representatives of the ancient
Armenian community of Israel and by the Armenian press in general,
the fact raised great expectations as Rivlin has proven, over the
years, to be one of the politicians in Israel more involved in the
recognition of the Armenian genocide.

Important, in this regard, was the declaration issued last month by
the same Rivlin. Words that seem to echo the famous statement that,
according to Louis Lochner of the Associated Press, Adolph Hiltler
would have pronounced in 1939 ("Who speaks today of the extermination
of the Armenians?"): "Whoever thought of the Final Solution got
the impression that, when the day comes, the world will be silent,
like it was about the Armenians. It is hard for me to forgive other
nations for ignoring our tragedy and we cannot ignore another nation's
tragedy. That is our moral obligation as people and Jews."

Over the last few days, there was a visit to Yerevan by a delegation
of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry for a series of consultations
having as objective to expand the cooperation between the two countries
in the economic and political spheres. On the occasion, the delegation
visited the Memorial of the Armenian Genocide.

Hard to say if, in the end, conciliatory positions like that of Rivlin
will prevail, or instead those of the ones who think "offensive, and
even blasphemous" (thus Yosef Shagal of Yisrael Beiteinu, in 2008)
to compare the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust of the Jews.

Certainly, what remains is the unease towards those willing to
sacrifice the memory of thousands of victims on the altar of political
interest.

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso
http://www.horizonwe...s/details/43289
 



#3 Yervant1

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Posted 05 December 2014 - 09:48 AM

One word Hypocrite!!!!!!!!!!!

 

ISRAELI PRESIDENT BACKTRACKS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION


December 5, 2014 - 13:18 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, formerly an
outspoken advocate of Israel's recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
decided not to renew his signature on an annual petition calling for
Israel to officially recognize the mass killings as genocide.

According to The Times of Israel, those responsible for the petition
were surprised by Rivlin's change of stance, Israel's Channel 10 News
reported on Thursday, Dec 4 night, which was ascribed to the heightened
sensitivity of his position since Rivlin was elected president earlier
this year. The TV report said Rivlin was apparently concerned not to
further harm Israel's strained relations with Turkey.

Ties have been all-but frozen in recent years, notably as a
consequence of the 2010 killings of nine Turkish citizens by Israeli
naval commandos who were attacked when they intercepted the Turkish
vessel Mavi Marmara as it sought to break Israel's security blockade
of Hamas-run Gaza.

The 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide will be commemorated
on April 24, 2015.

Beit Hanassi, the president's official residence, confirmed that
Rivlin had not signed the petition, Channel 10 said. It said unnamed
Foreign Ministry officials welcomed the president's "statesmanship."

Israel has avoided formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the
political arena for years, for fear of straining diplomatic ties with
Turkey, which was Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world until
the deterioration under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an
open supporter of Hamas who has issued a stream of highly critical
statements about Israel.

In years past, Rivlin on numerous occasions encouraged Israeli
lawmakers to reject the politicized discourse that has dominated the
discussion of the issue.

"I'm aware of the sensitivity, but I'm not blaming modern-day
Turkey," Rivlin told Knesset members last year, when he was still an
MK himself. "The government that committed these acts was overturned
by Turkey itself," he said during a special session on the topic.

"I'm sure Turkey will be an ally. I think a solution needs to be
found for this crisis, but it's unthinkable that the Knesset ignore
this tragedy," Rivlin said. "We demand that people don't deny the
Holocaust, and we can't ignore the tragedy of another nation."

During an interview with Israel Army Radio in 2013, Rivlin highlighted
the differences between the Holocaust and the murder of the Armenian
people. But without blurring those differences, Israel must find a
way to "fulfill its moral obligation of remembering wrongs done to
others," he said.

http://www.panarmeni...ng/news/185649/
http://www.timesofis...de-recognition/

 

 



#4 Yervant1

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Posted 05 December 2014 - 09:50 AM

Nothing new, same old same old!!!!!!!!

ISRAELI PRESIDENT BECOMES ANOTHER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIER

13:30, 5 December, 2014

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS. The Israeli President Reuven Rivlin,
formerly an outspoken advocate of Israel's recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, decided not to renew his signature on an annual petition
calling for Israel to officially recognize the mass killings as
genocide. As reports "Armenpress" citing The Times of Israel,
the Israeli President's administration has officially confirmed
the information.

Those responsible for the petition were surprised by Rivlin's change
of stance, Israel's Channel 10 News reported on Thursday night,
which was ascribed to the heightened sensitivity of his position
since Rivlin was elected president earlier this year. The TV report
said Rivlin was apparently concerned not to further harm Israel's
strained relations with Turkey.

Ties have been all-but frozen in recent years, notably as a
consequence of the 2010 killings of nine Turkish citizens by Israeli
naval commandos who were attacked when they intercepted the Turkish
vessel Mavi Marmara as it sought to break Israel's security blockade
of Hamas-run Gaza.

Israel has avoided formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the
political arena for years, for fear of straining diplomatic ties with
Turkey, which was Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world until
the deterioration under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an
open supporter of Hamas who has issued a stream of highly critical
statements about Israel.

In years past, Rivlin on numerous occasions encouraged Israeli
lawmakers to reject the politicized discourse that has dominated the
discussion of the issue. "I'm aware of the sensitivity, but I'm not
blaming modern-day Turkey," Rivlin told Knesset members last year,
when he was still an MK himself. "The government that committed
these acts was overturned by Turkey itself," he said during a special
session on the topic.

"I'm sure Turkey will be an ally. I think a solution needs to be
found for this crisis, but it's unthinkable that the Knesset ignore
this tragedy," Rivlin said. "We demand that people don't deny the
Holocaust, and we can't ignore the tragedy of another nation," he said.

During an interview with Israel Army Radio in 2013, Rivlin highlighted
the differences between the Holocaust and the murder of the Armenian
people. But without blurring those differences, Israel must find a
way to "fulfill its moral obligation of remembering wrongs done to
others," he said.

The fact of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman government has
been documented, recognized, and affirmed in the form of media
and eyewitness reports, laws, resolutions, and statements by many
states and international organizations. The complete catalogue
of all documents categorizing the 1915 wholesale massacre of the
Armenian population in Ottoman Empire as a premeditated and thoroughly
executed act of genocide, is extensive. Uruguay was the first country
to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide in 1965. The massacres
of the Armenian people were officially condemned and recognized as
genocide in accordance with the international law by France, Germany,
Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Poland,
Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus, Lebanon, Uruguay, Argentina,
Venezuela, Chile,Canada, Vatican and Australia.

http://armenpress.am...ide-denier.html

 

 



#5 Yervant1

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Posted 06 December 2014 - 12:20 PM

ISRAEL'S PRESIDENT BACKTRACKS ON GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

Friday, December 5th, 2014
http://asbarez.com/1...de-recognition/

Israel's President Reuven Rivlin

Once an outspoken advocate for Israel's recognition of the massacres,
president quietly distances himself from the campaign

TEL AVIV--Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, formerly an outspoken
advocate of Israel's recognition of the Armenian Genocide, decided
not to renew his signature on an annual petition calling for Israel
to officially recognize the mass killings as genocide.

Those responsible for the petition were surprised by Rivlin's change
of stance, Israel's Channel 10 News reported on Thursday night,
which was ascribed to the heightened sensitivity of his position
since Rivlin was elected president earlier this year. The TV report
said Rivlin was apparently concerned not to further harm Israel's
strained relations with Turkey.

Ties have been all but frozen in recent years, notably as a
consequence of the 2010 killing of nine Turkish citizens by Israeli
naval commandos. The Turks were attacked when they intercepted the
Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara as it sought to break Israel's security
blockade of Hamas-run Gaza.

The 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide will be commemorated
on April 24, 2015.

Beit Hanassi, the president's official residence, confirmed that
Rivlin had not signed the petition, Channel 10 said. It said unnamed
Foreign Ministry officials welcomed the president's "statesmanship."

Israel has avoided formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the
political arena for years, for fear of straining diplomatic ties with
Turkey, which was Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world until
the deterioration under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an
open supporter of Hamas who has issued a stream of highly critical
statements about Israel.

In years past, Rivlin on numerous occasions encouraged Israeli
lawmakers to reject the politicized discourse that has dominated the
discussion of the issue. "I'm aware of the sensitivity, but I'm not
blaming modern-day Turkey," Rivlin told Knesset members last year,
when he was still a member of parliament himself. "The government
that committed these acts was overturned by Turkey itself," he said
during a special session on the topic.

"I'm sure Turkey will be an ally. I think a solution needs to be
found for this crisis, but it's unthinkable that the Knesset ignore
this tragedy," Rivlin said. "We demand that people don't deny the
Holocaust, and we can't ignore the tragedy of another nation," he said.

During an interview with Israel Army Radio in 2013, Rivlin highlighted
the differences between the Holocaust and the murder of the Armenian
people. But without blurring those differences, Israel must find a
way to "fulfill its moral obligation of remembering wrongs done to
others," he said.

Some 1.5 million Armenians (as well as hundreds of thousands of
other Christian minorities) were killed and displaced by Ottoman
Turks during and after World War I.
 



#6 Yervant1

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Posted 09 December 2014 - 10:42 AM

HEAD OF THE EUROPEAN JEWISH PARLIAMENT IS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BY KNESSET

by Tatevik Shahunyan

Tuesday, December 9, 14:39

Co-chair of the European Jewish Parliament, Vladimir Rabinovich, told
Arminfo correspondent that he is optimistic about the possibility of
adoption of a resolution on recognition of the Armenian genocide by
the Israeli Knesset.

He said that at present the Jewish and Armenian organizations have
been actively cooperating in this direction. "Simply, there are issues
that should be implemented with care and without noise. I think that
everything will be OK", - Rabinovich assured.

To note, on 5 December President of Israel Reuven Rivlin formerly an
outspoken advocate of Israel's recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
has refused to renew his signature on an annual petition calling for
Israel to officially recognize the mass killings as genocide, the Times
of Israel reports. Those responsible for the petition were surprised
by Rivlin's change of stance, Israel's Channel 10 News reported on
Thursday night, which was ascribed to the heightened sensitivity of
his position since Rivlin was elected president earlier this year. The
TV report said Rivlin was apparently concerned not to further harm
Israel's strained relations with Turkey, the source reports.

http://www.arminfo.a...77A0EB7C0D21663
 



#7 Yervant1

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Posted 01 May 2015 - 01:31 PM

How Herzl sold out the Armenians He supported the brutal Ottoman sultan against them, believing this would get the sultan to sell Palestine to the Jews.
By Rachel Elboim-Dror May 1, 2015
 
2537022099.jpg
Theodor Herzl in Basel, site of First Zionist Congress. Photo by Central Zionist Archive/Courtesy Simon Wiesenthal Center

The Armenian question has occupied the Zionist movement since a mass killing of Armenians was carried out by the Turks in the mid 1890s – prior even to the First Zionist Congress. Herzl’s strategy was based on the idea of an exchange: The Jews would pay off the Ottoman Empire’s huge debt, in return for the acquisition of Palestine and the establishment of a Jewish state there, with the major powers’ consent. Herzl had been working hard to persuade Sultan Abdul Hamid II to accept the proposal, but to no avail.

“Instead of offering the Sultan money,” Herzl’s diplomatic agent Philip Michael Nevlinski (who also advised the Sultan) told him, “give him political support on the Armenian issue, and he’ll be grateful and accept your proposal, in part at least.” The Christian European countries had been critical of the murder of Armenian Christians at the hands of Muslims, and committees supporting the Armenians had been founded in various places, and Europe also offered refuge to leaders of the Armenian revolt. This situation made it very difficult for Turkey to obtain loans from European banks.

Herzl eagerly took the advice. He felt that it was appropriate to try any means possible to hasten the establishment of a Jewish state. And so he agreed to serve as a tool of the Sultan, by trying to convince the leaders of the Armenian revolt that if they surrendered to the Sultan, he would comply with some of their demands. Herzl also tried to show the West that Turkey was in fact more humane, that it had no choice but to deal with the Armenian revolt this way, and that it aspired to a ceasefire and a political arrangement. After much effort, he also met with the Sultan on May 17, 1901.

The Sultan hoped that Herzl, a well-known journalist, would be able to alter the Ottoman Empire’s negative image. And so Herzl launched an intensive campaign to fulfill the Sultan’s wish, casting himself as a mediator for peace. He established ties with and held secret meetings with the Armenian rebels, in an attempt to get them to stop the violence, but they were not convinced of his sincerity, and did not trust the Sultan’s promises. Herzl also made energetic attempts to this effect in diplomatic channels in Europe, which he was very familiar with.

As was his way, he did not consult with other Zionist movement leaders, and kept his activities secret. But in need of some assistance, he wrote to Max Nordau to try to recruit him for the mission as well. Nordau responded with a one-word telegram: “No.” In his eagerness to obtain the charter for Palestine from the Turks, Herzl publicly declared – after the start of the yearly Zionist Congresses – that the Zionist movement expresses its admiration and gratitude to the Sultan, despite opposition from some representatives.

Herzl’s chief opponent on this was Bernard Lazare, a French Jewish intellectual, leftist, well-known journalist and literary critic, who had fought prominently against the Dreyfus trial, and was a supporter of the Armenian cause. He was so incensed by Herzl’s activity that he resigned from the Zionist Committee and abandoned the movement altogether in 1899. Lazare published an open letter to Herzl in which he asked: How can those who purport to represent the ancient people whose history is written in blood extend a welcoming hand to murderers, and no delegate to the Zionist Congress rises up in protest?

This drama involving Herzl – a leader who subordinated humanitarian considerations and served the Turkish authorities for the sake of the ideal of the Jewish state – is just one illustration of the frequent clash between political goals and moral principles. Israel has repeatedly been faced with such tragic dilemmas, as evidenced in its long-standing position of not officially recognizing the Armenian genocide, as well as in other more recent decisions that reflect the tension between humanitarian values and realpolitik considerations.

The writer is professor emeritus of history of education and culture at Hebrew University.



#8 Yervant1

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Posted 08 July 2015 - 11:13 AM

EDELSTEIN CALLS FOR KNESSET TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

By LAHAV HARKOV

07/08/2015 15:59

Only 22 countries recognize the 1915 massacres as a genocide, including
Canada, France and Germany, but not the US.

Yuli Edelstein. (photo credit:MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

The Knesset must do the moral thing and recognize the Armenian
genocide, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said at a Knesset Education,
Culture and Sport Committee meeting Wednesday.

"I visited one of the Armenian memorial sites and it is very hard
to ignore what I saw there," Edelstein recounted. "I expect that I
and the Knesset behave appropriately so that we can make decisions
according to the moral standards of a democratic state."

The Knesset Speaker explained that many governments do not recognize
the atrocity, while their parliaments clearly do.

"I will try to promote the issue and I hope that MKs will know the
right way to vote in the moment of truth," he stated.

Only 22 countries recognize the 1915 massacres as a genocide, including
Canada, France and Germany, but not the US.

The Knesset sent a delegation to the Armenian government's 100th
anniversary ceremony in April, but Israel does not formally recognize
the Armenian Genocide, in hopes that it can repair ties with Turkey,
which perpetrated it. In addition, Azerbaijan - which has good ties
with Israel - has fraught relations with Armenia.

Education, Culture and Sport Committee chairman Ya'acov Margi (Shas)
said "we are aware of the diplomatic sensitivities, but we overcame
them and the time has come for the government to do so, too."

Margi called for the government to recognize the genocide and for
the Knesset plenum to make a historic decision in keeping with
Jewish values.

"Ignoring [the Armenian genocide] will bring the next genocide,"
MK Zehava Gal-On (Meretz), who initiated the meeting along with MK
Nachman Shai (Zionist Union), said.

Shai, who attended the memorial ceremony in Armenia, said: "We want
to be in the international arena with countries that respect morals.

Israel, the state of the Jewish People, must recognize what happened
to the Armenians. Nothing will change in our relations with Turkey
or Azerbaijan."

Foreign Ministry representative Oded Yosef said that Israel his ties
with Armenia and cooperates with the country in many projects, but
the international debate as to whether there was a genocide or not
is a political one about semantics.

Gal-On responded: "It would bring honor to Israel to recognize the
Armenian genocide. It was a tragedy, but the word tragedy is not
enough."

http://www.jpost.com...genocide-408372
 



#9 Yervant1

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Posted 15 July 2015 - 12:59 PM

KNESSET SPEAKER EXPECTS COALITION AND OPPOSITION TO COME TOGETHER TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

13:20, 14 Jul 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein has said he expects the coalition
and opposition to come together to recognize the Armenian genocide,
which he hopes to have the Knesset do officially soon, the Jerusalem
Post reports.

He denied that the Knesset recognition of the Armenian Genocide has
anything to do with flexing muscles at Turkey, the perpetrators of the
genocide and the main reason the government has not yet recognized it.

The move is not coordinated with the government, Edelstein added,
citing separation of powers.

"The Armenians are not our greatest friends. They never vote with us
in the UN. I don't expect anything in return; this is not a political
decision," he explained.

http://www.armradio....enian-genocide/



#10 Yervant1

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Posted 23 July 2015 - 01:40 PM

ARMENIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY CALLS ON ISRAELI KNESSET TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

15:40 â~@¢ 23.07.15

Chairwoman of the Jewish community in Armenia Rima Varzhapetyan has
addressed a message to the Israeli Knesset over an upcoming discussion
on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

The message reads:

Dear Mr. Edelstein!

Dear Members of Knesset!

The members of the Jewish community in Armenia with great excitement
and hope learned about the upcoming discussion on the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide in the Knesset session.

The Knesset embodies a collection of wise and morally upright people
in the eyes of the Jewish Diaspora.

We lay high hopes on the Israeli Parliamentarians on their positive
decision on the recognition of the tragedy of the Armenian people
as Genocide.

If we want to build a future, we should honor the past and thereby
set an example for the new generation.

>From the appearance of the Genesis up to the creation of the State of
Israel and up till now, our people, at the cost of enormous sacrifices,
passed the highest moral test to meet the main requirements of the
Almighty - the principle of Justice.

Realizing this, the people of the world, the Governments and the
Parliaments of many countries closely monitor the position of the
State of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora on this thorny issue - the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

We, the Jews, make a historic choice by recognizing our moral
principles as common and universal or relative and conditional,
to please current political situation and the delusive "expediency".

Looking straight in the eyes of the Armenians, undergoing immense
sufferings, we, the Jews, see, as in the mirror, the sufferings of
our people. The hearts of most Jews and Armenians are waiting with
trepidation for the most important decision for the future of both
peoples.

http://www.tert.am/e.../kneset/1742973
 



#11 Yervant1

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Posted 26 October 2017 - 09:50 AM

Jewish Breaking News
Oct 25 2017
 
 
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ARutgers University professor has published multiple social media posts containing antisemitic canards and caricatures, including blaming the Armenian genocide on Jews, describing Judaism as “the most racist religion in the world,” and calling Israel a “terrorist country.”

As first reported by the Israellycool blog, Michael Chikindas — a microbiology professor at Rutgers’ department of food science and director of the school’s Center for Digestive Health — promoted dozens of anti-Jewish conspiracies and comments on his Facebook page this past May, among them references to “international fat Jewish pockets,” and descriptions of “orthodox Judaism” and Zionism as “the best of two forms of racism.”

In one post, Chikindas claimed, “Israel is the terrorist country aimed at genocidal extermination of the land’s native population, Palestinians,” and added: “we must not forget that the Armenian Genocide was orchestrated by the Turkish Jews who pretended to be the Turks.”

He argued that Israel was failing in this attempted “extermination” mainly “because of the number of the Jews of ‘alternative’ sexual orientation (25% of the Tel Aviv inhabitants are gay/lesbians and Israel has more of these than the Netherlands).”

Screenshot-166-Copy-1-249x300.pngAn antisemitic image shared by Rutgers University professor Michael Chikindas. Photo: Michael Chikindas / Facebook.

In an earlier post, Chikindas wrote “that Israel, the country of the Jews and for the Jews, has one of the highest percentage of gays in the world.”

The professor also called Judaism “the most racist religion in the world” and shared an interview with Christopher Bollyn, a conspiracy theorist who has claimed American Jews and Israel orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.

Chikindas’ Facebook timeline is filled with images depicting classic antisemitic libels, including a graphic suggesting Jews — portrayed by the Happy Merchant, a caricature of a hook-nosed Jewish male with a kippah — control the Federal Reserve, Hollywood, the “cancer industry,” “pornography,” “wars for Israel,” and “sex-trafficking,” among other things.

Another image featured the Jewish caricature — representing Israel — being carried by American soldiers and saying, “I am God’s chosen people, you filthy goyim.” A third cartoon showed a Jewish man with a large, hooked nose and a yellow “Jude” star on his suit jacket stealing money from a hungry American boy, and exclaiming, “be a patriot, goy! Somebody’s got to pay 10 billion to Israel.”

Other images depicted an Israeli flag overlaying the White House; accused Zionists of playing “the Anti-Semitism Card”; quoted former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters leveling charges of “apartheid” against Israel; and expressed support for the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.

 

Screenshot-165-copy-300x294.pngAn antisemitic image shared by Rutgers University professor Michael Chikindas. Photo: Michael Chikindas / Facebook.

Chikindas also published multiple posts referring to women — including Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev, First Lady Melania Trump, and President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka Trump — as “b**ches” and in some cases “sl*ts.”

After sharing an article claiming to expose the “global elite,” he wrote, “These jewish motherf*****s do not control me. They can go and f**k each other in their fat a***s — you see, I really do not have anything to loose (sic), hence nothing to be controlled.”

In an interview with The Algemeiner on Tuesday, Chikindas rejected accusations of antisemitism, indicating that he was once married to and had a child with a Jewish woman, and had some 25 percent Ashkenazi Jewish lineage himself.

When read comments he made about Judaism, Chikindas pointed to the Talmud — a text containing Jewish law and tradition — which he claimed features racist and supremacist passages, as well as to “extremely degrading racist messages” he said he received on YouTube from accounts with Hebrew-language handles.

These messages — written in Russian, sent from “Jews who were originally from Russia,” and containing vulgar, personal insults, according to Chikindas — were provided as further evidence of the religion’s supposed racism.

Chikindas also said that he was open to having a “civilized” discussion on these issues, and claimed that his postings did not violate any of Facebook’s policies.

Neal Buccino, a spokesperson for Rutgers, told The Algemeiner that “Professor Michael Chikindas’ comments and posts on social media are antithetical to our university’s principles and values of respect for people of all backgrounds, including, among other groups, our large and vibrant Jewish community. Such comments do not represent the position of the University.”

He added that while Rutgers respects the free speech rights of its faculty members, it also seeks to “foster an environment free from discrimination, as articulated in our policy prohibiting discrimination.”

“The university is reviewing this matter to determine if actions taken in the context of his role as a faculty member at Rutgers may have violated that policy,” Buccino added.

This is not the first time that a professor at Rutgers — New Jersey’s largest publicly-funded research university — was caught making comments that were criticized for being antisemitic.

Jasbir Puar, an associate professor of women’s and gender studies at Rutgers, has come under fire for comments she made at a 2016 faculty-sponsored event at Vassar College, where she repeated allegations that the bodies of “young Palestinian men … were mined for organs for scientific research,” according to a transcript of the talk provided by the Vassar alumni group Fairness To Israel.

She asserted at the time that Israel’s actions could be called a “genocide in slow motion,” and said, “We need [the boycotts, divestment and sanctions movement] as part of organized resistance and armed resistance in Palestine as well.”

In a 2015 essay, Puar also wrote that “Palestinian trauma is overshadowed” because “Israel in particular and Jewish populations in general have thoroughly hijacked the discourse of trauma through exceptionalizing Holocaust victimization.”

Mark G. Yudof, former president of the University of California and current chairman of the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), and Kenneth Waltzer, executive director of AEN, wrote in response to Puar’s 2016 comments, “Wild charges against Israel have often been aired on U.S. campuses over the past several years, and their moral perversity pointed out. But Ms. Puar’s calumnies reached a new low.”

“Characterizing Israel and Zionism in ways that anti-Semites formerly characterized Jews has become a stock in trade among anti-Israeli activists on college campuses,” they added.

Puar is set to publish a new book through Duke University Press next month, which argues that Israel seeks to injure and maintain “Palestinian populations as perpetually debilitated, and yet alive, in order to control them.”

The article has been updated to reflect comments by Neal Buccino, a spokesperson for Rutgers University.

 






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