I excitedly read the headlines: “Israeli Prime Minister Recognizes Armenian Genocide for the First Time.”

First, the reality is different. During an interview, Benjamin Netanyahu was asked why Israel does not recognize the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian genocides. He responded:

“I think we have. I think the Knesset passed a resolution to that effect.” 

He is wrong – there is no such resolution.

When the interviewer asked why Israeli prime ministers had not recognized it, Netanyahu replied, “I just did.”

To call this “recognition” of the Armenian Genocide requires an overly vivid imagination. And it turned out many do possess it – an imagination that has not dimmed even five years after the 2020 war.

For decades, whenever tensions with Turkey escalated, Israeli officials have hinted at the possibility of recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The irony today is that Netanyahu – the person committing genocide in Gaza – is “recognizing” the Armenian Genocide. I do not need such “recognition”. In fact, such “recognition” desecrates the memory of our martyrs.

In my book “Ruben Vardanyan: ‘Don Quixote’ and the ‘Dragons’” I recalled what Ruben Vardanyan said in 2016, after the first Aurora awards ceremony in Yerevan:

“I do not care what Barack Obama says. I do not have to prove anyone that my ancestors were killed by Turks.”

Read also: Israel’s (un)recognition of the Armenian Genocide

Ara Tadevosyan is the Director of Mediamax.