JERUSALEM—Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in commenting on the French bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide, said he was opposed to recognizing that crime.
“Since its establishment, Israel has opposed the application of the term Holocaust to another war or tragedy. The tragedy of the Jewish people during the World War II is beyond comparison with any other tragedy,” said Lieberman.
“Attempts to turn conflicts and massacres in Africa, Asia and Balkans into another Holocaust are unacceptable. No country other than France has recognized Armenian Genocide by law. Today historical incidents have turned into political disputes. That’s why I don’t consider it right for Israel to face this problem,” the Azerbaijan Press Agency quoted Lieberman as saying.
In December, the Education and Culture Committee of the Israeli parliament—the Knesset—held a three-hour session to discuss a bill, which if passed, would recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The resolution, which was introduced by Zehava Gal-On of the left-wing Meretz party and Ariyeh Eldad of the right-wing National Union party would recognize the Armenian Genocide and designate a national day of remembrance.
The session, which was televised live on Israeli television, was presided over by the chairman of the committee, Alex Miller, and was attended by the Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, which unprecedented in such hearings.
During his remarks, Speaker Rivlin said that Israel has a moral and historic obligation to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
“It is my duty as a Jew and Israeli to recognize the tragedies of other peoples,” Rivlin said according to Haaretz newspaper. “Diplomatic considerations, important as they may be, should not deter us from recognizing a tragedy experienced by another people.”
Coalition government representative Zen Elkin also spoke in favor of adopting the bill, as did numerous Knesset members in attendance. Also speaking in favor of the bill was noted historian Israel Charney.
“I can say that at this time, recognition of this type can have very grave strategic implications,” Irit Lillian, a representative of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told the hearing on what the Knesset committee defined as the possibility of “the Jewish people’s recognition of the Armenian genocide.”
“Our relations with Turkey today are so fragile and so delicate that there is no place to take them over the red line,” she said.
Eldar, the co-author of the resolution, dismissed the government’s objections by saying, “In the past it was wrong to bring up the issue because our ties with Turkey were good; now it is wrong because our ties with them are bad. When will the time be right?”
Gal-On spoke of Israel’s “moral and historical obligation” to recognize the genocide “especially when we are still struggling against Holocaust denial.” She cited in that regard the adoption by the French parliament of a bill criminalizing Armenian genocide denial.
Shame on these Jews for using the ARMENIAN HOLOCAUST to play their dirty diplomatic games and acting like typical Turks and Azeris and LYING WITHOUT SHAME! Relations with any country should not have any bearing on truth and moral duties.
“Since its establishment, Israel has opposed the application of the term Holocaust to another war or tragedy.” May I remind you Mr Foreign Minister the term Holocaust is not yours and not any more for Jews than it is for other people, and before your Genocide, it was regularly used to describe the Armenian Genocide. No one gave you the authority to monopolize a word and become a disgusting liar in the process!
“Today historical incidents have turned into political disputes” – then perhaps you can dismantle your country of Israel, return to the countries of your ancestry, and return all those countless billions in handouts from Germany and USA? After all why politicize something when it is a historical incident? Getting aid, grants, gifts, a free country out of thin air are all based on political deals, not historical study.
lies can not re-write the history.There was no armenian genocide everybody knows..
You should read the history book according to attaturk.
I did and almost pissed my pants.
Lies and falsification are the foundation of modern Turkey, and the mortar used was the blood and bones of 3M Anatolian Christians
Now go away, you presence offends humanity.
Thanks for your response Stepan. Unfortunately some people want to live with lies and they don’t want to search for the truth. With all these atrocities in the world, if people know the truth and fight for justice, the world would be a better place to live in.
P.S. Can you refer me to any history book written by attaturk? I’d like some references for my American friends
“Diplomatic considerations, important as they may be, should not deter us from recognizing a tragedy experienced by another people.” —The Armenian people must take this to heart and realize that by jumping through hoops trying to get the “recognition” of the Israelis, while failing to recognize Palestine in the process, the government of Armenia is undertaking an incredibly tragic exercise in irony. Stop jumping through hoops and do not let our tragic history become our identity. It’s already become a bargaining chip. It’s time to take diplomatic initiative on atrocities that are taking place NOW, as we speak in Gaza and the West Bank.
Very well said. I don’t think it makes any difference if Israel recognizes the Armenian Genocide while commiting crimes against the Palestinians.
P.S. To Max. I’m interested to know what country you live in.
would you mind sending me your email?
mr leiberman you starting to sound like the turks used to be are u turkish.israel should have been right at the front long time ago you are very very late and for u to say yes it happened but cant recognize it it shocks me
Most snakes are opportunistic eaters, they crawl and twist on their belies looking for a new pray, any unnecessary fight by their victims will be eliminated with their deadly bite!! Armenian Genocide is a bait for Mr. snake, in order to trap those stupid rats.. the brainless rat never see the real enemy, until is dead…this is a way of life for poisonous snakes, they never die of hunger, unless they end up with much bigger and hungrier snake!!
israel and turkey–like two snakes in a vase.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is a selfish racist. Armenians suffered and continue to suffer because of people like Lieberman. Morality gets lost when it’s time to make money, “moral and historical obligation” my fanny. Armenians must join together and get the Genocide recognzed, I will leave it at that…
It seems some in Israel want a monopoly on suffering and Genocide, I suppose the same applies to hollywood movies of over 1000 that constantly blast into our minds the unique suffering of the Jewsih people which based on some very hard facts the European Jews may have suffered deaths of about 400 to 800 thousand at worst.
WW2 many people suffered, over 20 million Soviet citizens died, over 500,000 German prisoners of war simply were starved to death, and yes Jews did die due to Nazi relocations , similar top Armenians, but every bit of research clearly does not support the ridiculous number of 6 Million Jews.
I propose a European historical commissin to investigate the gross overestimated figures of 6M, let the historians decide about how unique the Jewish suffering was during WW2 and the complicity of Jewish organizations and bankers funding NAZI Germany during the war.
Now if you are a Jew, and feel angry , then you have a small insight about how we feel to have our suffering disputed and relagated to divison 2 of human suffering.
First I though: wow, ridicolous comment – but after that last part…
nice…
Wel lsaid bro- they are throwing their history at us and they lie too- ur correct- many of the poeple of the world are SIK AND TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT THEM- they are not unique AND NOT ALONE-NEVER WERE AND NEVER SHOULD WE SUPPORT THEM- THEY R DOING BIZ WITH THEIR OWN ENEMIES- THEY ARE SELLING THE BULLETS TO KILL MANY OTHERS-
Stepan,
Do you actually believe what you wrote or were you just saying it to make a point? I think your last sentence implies you were trying to make a point.
I was simply trying to make point, and it seems it had the right effect.
clever, biting sarcasm Stepan. Well done.
Lieberman is a bad seed. Even a lot of Israelis think he is mentally unstable.
Here:
“Whoever votes for Lieberman gives strength to Satan.”
— Conservative Israeli religious leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (Telegraph, February 10th, 2009)
“If you liked Mussolini, if you were missing Stalin, you’ll love Lieberman.”
— Unnamed member of Israel’s left-wing Meretz party. (Telegraph, February 10th, 2009)
““The choice of the most unrestrained and irresponsible man around for this job constitutes a strategic threat in its own right. Lieberman’s lack of restraint and his unbridled tongue, comparable only to those of Iran’s president, are liable to bring disaster down upon the entire region.” (Ha’aretz)
And we also should not forget that the State of Israel was actively supporting, for cold hard cash, Azerbaijan in the latter’s attempt to ethnically cleanse and exterminate Armenians of Artsakh during the war.
.
Very strange.. he must be getting paid by turks some how or just cant accept that this happened.
For some sick reson he must feel that the jews are the only nation entitled for Holocaust & does not want to recognize not only the armenian genocide (which occured before Holocaust), algerian & sudan etc.
These are all well documented facts of history.
Maybe our jewish freind should go back to primary school & take some history lessons.
Just for the record…
Holocaust is for jews as 1 out of 3 jews perished during the Holocaust.
Armenian Genocide is different, 2 out of 3 perrished.
Makes you wondor how a person with this much intelligence can be a foreign minister…
U r correct- he is a liar to say the least and they are doing that-stealing our money to say the least- we r sick of hearing about them as are many others- We do not need their museums and movies and all their lies- they lie and so against a liar we must stand strong-they lie! they are doing exactly what u said and more
No need to wonder. The answer is………Israeli chauvinism. No matter if one is a white supremacist, an Islamic supremacist, or a nationalistic supremacist like Hitler’s Nazis or Turkish CUP/Kemalists. Supremacists are supremacists. And yes, there are supremacists among Jews too.
“Attempts to turn conflicts and massacres in Africa, Asia and Balkans into another Holocaust are unacceptable.” ……That guy needs to get over himself, and come down from his high horse. Give me a break.
He has no intelligence. He’s a vile criminal that needs to be put out of its misery.
My…I am really “shocked”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I don’t expect anything different from him or anyone of his ilk!
I wish the Jews would get their act together. What do the flaky Jews want from Turkey. Thank you Israel you made 1.5 million murdered Armenians very happy. I guess the Turks were right ” What Genocide ?”
the tragedy (HOLOCAUST) OF ARMENIAN people in begining of 20th century is beyond comparison with any other tragedy…….and this is what I say agha Pm.
Lieberman, I’d say go to hell and shame on you. I wonder what your response would be if someone commented the way you do about the Jewish massacre. I am glad that many Jews in government, public or private life do not share your views.
Yeh, well since the Holocaust has already been recognized, I see no need to even mention it anymore. How do you like that?
Another denial.. another politican. Mr. Lieberman just deny the Armenian Genocide for Israel expediency, like other super power. IF I am not mistaken all the foreign ministers denies this genocidal fact.. Just for the political reasons., I believe the right words came form the Knesset Speaker Mr. Rivlin ” Israel has moral and historical obligation to recognized the Armenian Genocide”..I would further say ” The whole World shouldrecognize” . Turks should be accountable what they have done to the Armenian people.
Mr. Lieberman you are a stupid men.. It seems you are accepting it but for political reason denying it.. either outright deny it or recognize it. Do not play politics.. I would guarantee you, if the Turkey’s geo-politics was not an issue.. Every major country including our beloved USA would accept in a heart beat.
History do not lie, foreign minister does, and Turks do. Shame on you… You should go and take some history lessons from your world known historian Mr. Israel Charney, and become a men.
For me Armenian Genocide is the worst tragedy ever and for every nation they suffered from genicides they feel the same and FM of Israel doesn’t have the right to monopolize the word Genocide , specially it was the first one of the 20th century. If Armenian Genocide was recognized in time there would be no Jeweish Holocost. We have good friends in Israel like Israel Charney and others but unfortunatly we have some enemies too.
Well then the fact is 300 million Arabs are the Thorne of the Jewish state sit back and relax an eye for an eye let there be peace in Jerusalem.shake up the Kurds and the Turks and sit back and enjoy your new state .
Well- typical for these Israelis as they build their so called holocaust museums and throw in our faces their history of what the nazis did to them and others. they do nto even want us or anyone to know that they were not the only ones getting butchered
Well mr Israeli whoever u think u r-ur folks never went thru a genocide – NEVEr- maybe the Iranians also NEVER said u should be annilated- where is the proff-? it is lies-they never said that.,the germs of Germany never killed ur people and the turks never killed ur ancestors or ours- HOW IS THAT- u guy r robbing the spaces in history with lies- do u like that-( I do not believe in what I am saying-but this is u MR talking to people older than u and u r full of it 100%. We should not support u in any endeavour-U do biz with the turkey azeris and turks cus u know they will roast ur folks and bomb ur buildings elsewhere- we know what u did to our people too- we will start to support ur enemies and see how u like it- I think u got me being honest- I love the USA and what my country is and Y my folks came here- I hate lies-u r lieing and we will nto support and should not support u- no way-Jose as they say- shame on u and mayube the turks can come cook ur bread and make ur beds – they will annialate u worse than the nazis did- In our history the weapons were sharper and by the sword- read ur history- we will not listen to u and hope our govt does not support u -they never should
It seems many of you don’t know the Jew very well. He is not our friend, and never will be. Parasites they all are.
Politicians sell their dignity to stay in power …
As we all remember, connections between turrkish leaders, who organized The Armenian Genocide and jews, also the fact, that jews are the one who always blockades recognitikn of Armenian Gecide, we are not surprised at all mr. Liberman. He just doing his job, thats all.
This jew is a dangerous man. Capable of lighting a tinder box without any scruples. This man is a warmonger, he does not have time for anything else but for destruction. The look in his eyes refect the character of an irredeemable sociopath. He is the architect of the eventual cleansing of palestinians from Israel. There is a plan , engineered by this man, to remove the palestinians from their midst. This man is an equivalent to a jewish Talaat, in the modern sense. It was expecting too much for this man to endorse the genocide. His mentality is like that of a psicopath. No event in history is more dramatic and traumatic than the holocaust. ? Who says so ? people like Livgidor say so. What happened to us is a matter of supreme indifference–in historical terms– to this dangerous psicopath.
Human pain should never be compared or contrasted neither on the personal level nor on the collective level.
Both of our nations suffered a lot. Jews and Armenians should understand each other’s pain as both of our nations have endured unimaginable suffering.
I hope our suffering brings us together instead of separating us.
As far as the Foreign Minister is concerned, he and his department continues to believe that Turkey will have a new leadership one day and does not want to burn bridges with the Turkish people. What he doesn’t realize is that Turkey has changed once and for all and now is an Islamist country with a very concrete agenda; to establish a neo-Ottoman empire based on Sunni Salafi doctrine and Israel is in the way, as well as Syria, Armenia and Cyprus.
Jews, Armenians, Maronites, Syriacs, Assyrians, Kurds, Cypriots, Alawites and Greeks should unite to stop neo-Ottomanism.
This proves that political relations is much more important for this junk, & as Simon says for sure he has been paid enough by the Turks.It could be asked from this junk why you are so sensative about holocaust & up to thid very moment the Germans are paying for it?
RELAX EVERYONE – What do you think every Israeli official is suddenly going to change their tune – No. It’s politics they play both hands. It was unprecedented that the Knesset took it public last month. We got a lot of press out of it. Israel has 150 companies working in Azerbeijan. They have to play both hands. As long as relations with Israel and Turkey are strained, it’s in our favor. Israelis need to watch their back in Azerbeijan – they could get stabbed in the back like they did in Turkey. Majority of Jews in private are with us.
Are you kidding? Then I will deny the Holocaust for personal reasons. I live in the midst of neo-nazis, I don’t want to hurt their feelings. Does that make any sense?
If truth is avoided considering strategic needs, economic needs and so on, this gives a wrong message to countries all over the world that you can don anything on these bases and you will not be acounted for, what goes around comes around, be carefull.
Can anyone analyze
This man’s
Syndromized Eyes…!
Sylva
Tyrants are gods of our new era…
Read about another god…
They are close friends in crimes…
“Paul Auster hits back at Turkish PM
After Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the novelist ‘ignorant’, Auster reiterates protest against country’s free speech prohibitions”
Six million Jews perished because of the type of racism that Mr. Lieberman demonstrates in his statement in reference to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide — a holocaust that preceded that of the European Jews and, in a way, opened the dark road to the gas chambers of Aushwitz and Treblinka. The tragedy of the Jewish people during the World War II is beyond comparison with any other tragedy,
”The tragedy of the Jewish people during the World War II is beyond comparison with any other tragedy,” is a disturbing statement of ‘exclusivity, indeed, coming from a statesman of a nation who should know better.
There are righteous Jews and there are ugly Jews.
Armenian Genocide is not comparable to Holocaust for many reasons.
1. Armenian Genocide was the blue-print for more industrialized Holocaust in Germany.
2. Armenian Genocide whipped out 2/3 of Armenian nation vs. 1/2 Jewish population killed in Holocaust
3. Armenian Genocide occurred on historic Armenian homeland vs. Holocaust occurred in Jewish Diaspora
4. Armenians lost 9/10 of their historic homeland because of genocide vs. After Holocaust Jews acquired their historic homeland
5. Perpetrators of Armenian Genocide still deny it vs. Germany fully accepted Holocaust
6. Survivor of Armenian Genocide got no retribution or compensation vs. Holocaust survivors got compensation and retribution
7. Denial of Armenian Genocide is used as bargaining chip by U.S. vs Holocaust denial is unthinkable in U.S.
8. No justice yet for Armenians vs. Justice served to Jews
Bottom line to any unbiased human being Armenian Genocide would be a much bigger tragedy that continues still this day.
Armenians should never trust the right wing Israeli leaders. Whatever they do is based on self-interest and the last thing they would do is to care about others. When the relations between Turkey and Israel was good, Turkey was sharing with Israel intelligence on Arab countries in return for the anti-Armenian Zionist lobby. Now that the relations between Turkey and Israel has soured because of the flottila incident, Israrel is trying to use the Armenian tragedy to score political points against Turkey. In both cases, Israel is acting out of self-interest and it does not matter to them who suffers in the process as long as they get what they want.
Common sense and decency would dictate that Israel should have been one of the first countries to condemn Turkey and recognize the Armenian Genocide because what befell on the Armenians during WWI was a rehearsal for what was to come to the Jews in WWII. But the reality is that in the eyes of the insincere and cunning Israelis an absolute monopoly, as sick as it sounds, on the Genocide is required in order to grab and maintain the spotlight on victims of Genocide to facilitate the perpetual flow of hard-earned US tax dollars into Israel. In simple and sick terms, Israelis will sabotage anything in order to avoid competition and to grab a hold of top ranking among the victims of attrocities, since only through such ranking can they justify their existence and many of their deplorable actions.
Stand up Armenian s for your rights, this planet earth belong to all man kinds . Not to Jews only! “High Tadd” in Diaspora should organise Armenians around the world a demonstration against Israeli Embassies and complaine, for this irrationale Idiot speacks as spokesperson of Israeli Government.
Maybe also American Embassies around the world, for Mrs. Clintons’ speech last week.
As a Jew, it’s bullshit like this that makes it hard to defend Israel. Isn’t it time to stop capitalizing on the holocaust? As if it was the only human tragedy that ever mattered.