The Israeli government has “fulfilled its moral duty” in recognizing the Armenian Genocide, a move that is appreciated by the Armenian community both in Israel and abroad, Bishop Koryun Baghdasaryan told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
Baghdasaryan is a senior leader and dean of the manor of Jerusalem’s Armenian Patriarchate. His comments came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government voted on Sunday in favor of Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Speaking to the Post, the bishop pointed to the recognition as the completion of an Israeli onus to do so due to the Jewish people’s history of undergoing a genocide at the hands of Nazi Germany.
“It means a lot for the State of Israel, for the Jewish people,” he said, “because as a nation that went through the Holocaust, and right after the Holocaust established the State of Israel, it was really the moral duty for the State of Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
Following the government’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the proposal is set to go before the Knesset plenum for a vote. There, Baghdasaryan said he expects it will get overwhelming support.
Should the Knesset vote in favor of the proposal, Israel will become the 32nd UN member state to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.
