Netanyahu Acknowledges Ottoman Genocides
Benjamin Netanyahu. Source: Axios
TEL AVIV — Benjamin Netanyahu has become the first Israeli prime minister to publicly acknowledged the Ottoman Empire’s genocides against Armenians, Greeks of Pontus, and Assyrians, as reported by Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
Turkish authorities accuse the Israel PM of attempting to deflect attention from Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip, which some observers, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have described as genocidal.
Netanyahu's statement came during a podcast with Patrick Bet-David, an American host of Armenian and Assyrian descent, who pressed Netanyahu on Israel’s lack of formal recognition, despite 193 countries recognizing the Holocaust.
Initially, Netanyahu mistakenly claimed the Knesset had passed a resolution, but conceded when corrected. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry swiftly condemned the remarks, accusing Netanyahu of exploiting historical tragedies to deflect from Israel’s actions in Gaza, calling the statement “inconsistent with historical and legal facts.”
The acknowledgment marks a historic shift for Israel, potentially straining already tense Israel-Turkey relations, as the debate over historical accountability intersects with modern geopolitics.
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