Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar | Chaim Goldberg/Flash90

Israel Moves to Recognize Armenian Genocide

By: C14 Desk

Editor: C14 Editors

11 Tammuz 5786 (26.06.26)

As relations with Ankara deteriorate, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar is preparing to ask the cabinet to formally recognize the Armenian genocide, a step that would put Israel among 32 recognizing nations and directly challenge Turkey's decades-long campaign of denial.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is expected to bring a proposal to the cabinet at its next meeting for Israel’s formal recognition of the Armenian genocide. According to Sa’ar, the move stems from a moral and historical duty to acknowledge the atrocities committed against the Armenian people in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

1.5 million people and a thousand-year-old cultural and historical heritage in the Anatolian region were exterminated at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.

The Armenian Genocide began in April 1915, when the Ottoman-Turkish government arrested, deported, and executed hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Having eliminated the community’s leadership, the Ottoman government turned to the systematic extermination of the wider population.

The move is taking shape against the backdrop of deteriorating relations between Israel and Turkey. Two weeks ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave a speech in Ankara declaring that “the security of Damascus and Beirut is the security of Turkey,” and adding that Turkey would not allow Israel to realize its “Promised Land” plan.

Prime Minister Netanyahu responded sharply, saying that Erdogan, a backer of Hamas who acts against his own people, was the last person fit to lecture Israel on morality. He made clear that the IDF will keep acting against Iran and its proxies.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump revealed that Erdogan held back from joining the conflict with Iran at his personal request. Despite Erdogan’s critical stance toward Israel, Trump said: “I love him. He could have been on Iran’s side. I asked him to stay out.”

Sa’ar explained that despite extensive historical documentation, the Armenian genocide remains the subject of an institutionalized campaign of denial and minimization, primarily by Turkey. The proposal states that any attempt to distort the historical truth of these events must be condemned. To date, 32 countries have already recognized the Armenian genocide, and the decision will later be brought to the Knesset for approval as well.