Israel approves formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide

Israel's Cabinet unanimously approved Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar's proposal on Sunday to recognize the Armenian Genocide, sending the measure to the Knesset for a final vote. Sa'ar said the resolution formally recognizes the genocide committed against the Armenian people during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and added that it was "never too late to do the right thing."

That caution has eroded sharply since the Gaza war began in October 2023, as relations between Israel and Turkey deteriorated further and the two governments moved into open confrontation on regional issues.

The historical record at the center of the dispute begins on April 24, 1915, when Armenian intellectuals and leaders were arrested in Constantinople, followed by deportations and killings that spread across the Ottoman Empire. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that the campaign between spring 1915 and autumn 1916 involved mass arrests, deportations and killings designed to produce widespread death among Armenian Christians, and that between 664,000 and 1.2 million Armenians died. Other estimates put the toll at as many as 1.5 million.

Turkey has long rejected that characterization, saying the killings were not genocide and arguing that the death toll has been inflated. Ankara has also lobbied aggressively against formal recognition abroad, even as Armenian advocates have pressed governments and international institutions to use the genocide label for the events of 1915.

By 2026, 32 UN member states, including the United States, Canada, Russia and Germany, had formally recognized the Armenian Genocide. The Holy See and the European Parliament had also done so. In the summer of 2016, the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee recognized the Armenian Genocide and called on both the government and the Knesset to do the same, but the effort stopped short of becoming official policy.