Benjamin Netanyahu’s casual “recognition” of the 1915 Armenian Genocide is a hollow gesture that exploits historical tragedy while enabling present-day atrocities.
In light of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent podcast remark claiming recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, this open letter from the founder of the Truth And Accountability League (TAAL) calls out the insincerity and hypocrisy of his statement. It outlines Israel’s decades-long pattern of genocide denial, its complicity in arms sales to Azerbaijan used against Armenians, and the ongoing harassment of the ancient Armenian community in Jerusalem. The letter argues that true recognition requires action—not empty words.
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Open Letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Your Hollow and Hypocritical ‘Recognition’ of the Armenian Genocide
Prime Minister Netanyahu,
Edmund Burke once wrote, “Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.” Your recent offhand comment on a podcast that you “recognize” the Armenian Genocide of 1915 epitomizes this truth.
Your cavalier statement neither made headlines nor stirred the global Armenian community—and for good reason. Those who understand genocide—the generational trauma, the unhealed wounds, and the final atrocity of denial—do not speak of it lightly on an insignificant platform. Your words would almost be comical if they were not grotesquely tragic, considering that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians and repeating everything she taught Azerbaijan to do to the Armenians.
Your so-called recognition reeks of hypocrisy. For decades, Israel has engaged in active hostility toward Armenians, manipulated the truth of our genocide for political expediency, and even facilitated massacres against our people.
GENOCIDE DENIAL
Official recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Israel requires Knesset action, not a perfunctory podcast mention. Your false implication that such a resolution had already passed was misleading. Decades of committee debates and symbolic gestures have never produced binding recognition, and your governments—past and present—have blocked meaningful action.
For years, Israel aided Turkey’s efforts to suppress recognition in other nations, weaponizing silence to protect political alliances. Recognition has been dangled as leverage—invoked whenever relations with Ankara soured, shelved when ties improved. To exploit the memory of genocide while facing international accusations over Gaza is not realpolitik—it is moral bankruptcy.
Israel must act not because recognition is politically expedient, but because it is an incontrovertible historical truth. Anything less is complicity.
JERUSALEM AND THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY
Armenians have lived continuously in Jerusalem for over two millennia, contributing profoundly to its spiritual and cultural fabric. Yet your government has tolerated—and at times enabled—ethnic cleansing, harassment, land grabs, and intimidation against the Armenian Quarter.
Between April and June 2025, 50% of anti-Christian hate crimes in Jerusalem’s Old City targeted Armenians, including clergy and holy sites. Spitting attacks, vandalism, and physical assaults persist with scant accountability. This not only threatens one of Jerusalem’s oldest communities but betrays the moral responsibility of a state that claims to defend religious freedom. One must ask: how would Israel respond if its own sacred spaces were treated with such contempt—imagine, for a moment, if the roles were reversed.
ARTSAKH GENOCIDE AND ARMS EXPORTS
Israel’s advanced weaponry—drones, loitering munitions, and air defense systems—was pivotal to Azerbaijan carrying out the Artsakh Genocide. Intelligence and training further tilted the balance toward Baku. These were not the actions of a neutral state—they were deliberate choices rooted in profit and geopolitical calculation.
Even today, Israel continues to arm Azerbaijan, fully aware that these weapons will be turned against Armenians. Simultaneously, well-connected advocates in Washington lobby on Baku’s behalf, shielding President Aliyev’s regime from accountability and enabling its campaign of ethnic cleansing.
CONCLUSION
Your podcast remark was not recognition—it was a cynical maneuver, an attempt to borrow moral credibility without paying the price of moral action. True recognition would compel you to move the Knesset to binding legislation, defend Jerusalem’s ancient Armenian community from harassment and dispossession, and halt the flow of Israeli weapons that enable the slaughter of Armenians and others.
Israel’s own history makes ‘Never Again’ more than a slogan—it is supposed to be a covenant with humanity. By exploiting one genocide while enabling another, your government desecrates that covenant. Recognition without action is not just hypocrisy—it is betrayal. Recognition without justice does not absolve guilt—it compounds it.
Until Israel acts with integrity, your words will remain what they are now: hollow, self-serving, and morally bankrupt.
Vic Gerami
Truth And Accountability League
