Israeli Parliament ‘postpones’ vote on recognising Armenian Genocide

Reports of the suspension appear to have originated from JNS, which cited an unnamed official as saying the vote had been suspended on Sunday.

The official did not explain why the vote was postponed, but JNS noted the move came at a ‘delicate diplomatic time’, pointing to the renewed conflict between Israel and the US and Iran and an early July NATO summit in Turkey where Ankara sought to acquire F-35 fighter jets from the US.

JNS also reported that parliament was set to go to summer recess and will be out of session until the 27 October elections in Israel.

The outlet has also reached out to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who had put forth the proposal to recognise the genocide, but did not receive a response.

Sa’ar’s proposal was unanimously greenlit by the Israeli government. At the time, Sa’ar called the move to recognise the genocide ‘a moral duty’.

The move received a cold response from Armenia, with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declining to comment on it, saying that Israel was ‘weaponising’ the genocide.

‘We see no need to respond because we believe that refraining from entering into the issue of the weaponisation of the Armenian Genocide is in the interests of the Republic of Armenia’, Pashinyan said in late June.

The Israeli government’s approval of the resolution drew intense criticism from Azerbaijan and Turkey, with the latter accusing Israel of seeking to ‘cover up its own crimes’ in Gaza.

Turkey denies the Armenian Genocide, which was orchestrated by its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire. The genocide resulted in the mass killings of nearly 1.5 million Armenians living in what is modern-day eastern Turkey.

Azerbaijan, which is allied to both Turkey and Israel, called the move ‘a matter of serious concern’ and urged the Israeli government to ‘reconsider’ what it called the ‘distortion of the historical facts surrounding the events of 1915’.

On 7 June, the Israeli outlet Ynet cited unnamed Azerbaijani officials as saying the government’s decision to recognise the genocide ‘triggered a deeper crisis in Israel–Azerbaijan relations than has been publicly visible’. The officials said that Azerbaijan views the recognition as Israel ‘crossing a red line’, and that it had ‘failed to reciprocate the support Azerbaijan has shown Israel since the outbreak of the war’.

Ynet has also cited the Azerbaijani officials as saying that Azerbaijan was ‘deeply disappointed’ by the way the announcement was made, and that Baku was only made aware of the move ‘after the decision had already been published’.