- June 28, 2026
- 2:58 pm
- World News
On Sunday, June 28, 2026, the government of Israel unanimously approved Foreign Minister Gideon Saar’s proposal for the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
For Israel, this decision was not just a historical formulation. It closes a long-standing political gap that has been discussed in the country for many years but was constantly postponed due to relations with Turkey, Azerbaijan, and overall regional diplomacy.
The approved text states that despite extensive and unequivocal historical documentation, the Armenian Genocide remains the subject of an organized campaign of denial and minimization. It particularly highlights the manipulative rewriting of history textbooks, primarily by Turkey.
What Gideon Saar said
After the vote, Saar stated that “it is never too late to do the right thing.” According to him, it is about a tragedy that occurred more than a hundred years ago, the facts of which do not provoke real historical dispute.
The minister emphasized that for the Jewish state, recognizing the Armenian Genocide is a moral and historical duty. This formulation is important for the Israeli audience: a country built after the Holocaust of European Jewry cannot indefinitely sidestep the topic of the mass destruction of another people just because of diplomatic caution.
Why Turkey is at the center of this decision
Saar’s proposal appeared on the government’s agenda at the end of last week. Israeli media immediately linked it to the sharp deterioration in relations between Israel and Turkey, as well as the aggressive anti-Israel rhetoric of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Saar himself rejected the interpretation that this was a “retaliatory action.” He stated that recognizing the Armenian Genocide is not revenge for Turkey’s hostility, rhetoric, and actions against Israel.
But the minister added another, more political phrase: if Turkey promotes false narratives against Israel, it does not grant it immunity from historical truth.
Here, the government’s decision goes beyond memory. It becomes part of the current regional conflict of meanings, where Ankara tries to pressure Israel with the issue of Gaza, and Jerusalem responds not only with diplomacy but also with questions of historical responsibility.
For readers in Israel, it is especially important to understand this in a broader context. NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency views such decisions not only as separate news from the cabinet but also as signals showing how Israel’s foreign policy is changing against the backdrop of war, pressure from international institutions, and conflict with Turkey.
Why Israel took so long
In the Knesset, the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide has been raised repeatedly over the past 15 years. However, until today’s decision, the state had not moved to official recognition at the government level.
The reasons were political. Israel long avoided the direct formulation of “genocide” to not exacerbate relations with Turkey and also to not create additional problems in conjunction with Azerbaijan, which is an important regional player and opponent of the Armenian position on this issue.
Now the situation has changed. Relations between Israel and Turkey are in one of the most difficult states in recent decades, and the previous caution has lost much of its meaning.
What this means for Israel now
The Armenian Genocide is already officially recognized by 32 UN member states, including the USA, Canada, Russia, and Germany. It is also recognized by the Holy See and the European Parliament. It is estimated that around 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915 and the following years, along with the destruction of a significant part of the ancient cultural and historical heritage of the Armenian people.
For Israel, recognizing the Armenian Genocide has a dual meaning.
On one hand, it is a belated but important restoration of historical justice. Especially in light of the fact that back in 2000, 126 Holocaust researchers, including Yehuda Bauer, Israel Charny, and Elie Wiesel, declared the indisputability of the Armenian Genocide.
On the other hand, this decision is made at a time when Israel itself faces accusations of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Therefore, Ankara is likely to present the Israeli step as a political maneuver rather than an act of historical honesty.
Will this be a blow to Erdogan
This decision is unlikely to be a significant blow to Turkey. Ankara has been denying the recognition of the 1915 events as genocide for decades and will likely react sharply but predictably.
The main consequence for Israel is different: the state is officially doing for the first time what many Israeli historians, public figures, and politicians have demanded for many years. And now the question is not only about Turkey, Erdogan, or diplomatic calculation.
The question is whether Israel can speak about memory, genocide, and historical truth consistently — even when it is politically inconvenient.