Parliament of Israel decides not to consider Armenians' genocide issue

The Israeli Knesseth (Parliament) has rejected an official application on recognition of Armenians' genocide, submitted by the leader of the Left-Wing Party "Merez" Haim Oron, who suggested setting up a Knesseth group for discussing this issue.

Minister of Ecology Gilad Erdan, a member of the Knesseth, who spoke at the debates and tried to explain the position of those MPs who voted against consideration of the Armenians' genocide issue, said: "I agree that our moral duty is to remember the massacre of Armenians, however, it's not the proper time and place to talk about it."

"The official position of our country is as follows: the investigation of the events should be done by means of an open discussion, not through political consideration in the Knesseth. Israel has no intention to get involved in this issue on political grounds, and, consequently, we stand for removing this point from the agenda," Mr Erdan has stated and pointed to inevitable negative consequences for Israeli-Turkish relations, should the genocide be recognized.

At the same time, the MP has emphasized that Israel had never refuted the crimes accomplished against Armenians.