JOURNALISTS DO not have to be diplomats and can afford to make diplomatically incorrect statements, as did Israel Radio Reshet Bet’s Aryeh Golan when interviewing Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely regarding the most recent albeit failed attempt to have the Knesset recognize the genocide perpetrated by the Turks against the Armenians just over a century ago, when they killed approximately 1.5 million Armenian citizens.
Every time there is a crisis between Israel and Turkey, recognition of what is mistakenly called the Armenian Genocide (forgetting that the Armenians were the victims, not the aggressors) is raised by certain members of the Knesset. As continued diplomatic relations with Turkey are of great value to Israel, the proposed bill is invariably defeated by a legislative body that is fully aware that, 73 years after the Holocaust, Israel and the Jewish world still have to cope with Holocaust denial. How much more so do the Armenians have to cope with denial of the genocide inflicted on their people.
In concluding the interview with Hotovely, Golan referred to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as “haHamasnik totzeret Turkia” (the Hamasnik made in Turkey). There are many on both sides of the political divide who might agree.