Armenian Jews and Israelis - Remembering and Denial

Yair Auron Lecture in Paris, 2010

The State of Israel continues to struggle against Holocaust denial on one hand, but participates in the denial of another genocide on the other. This most likely will damage the struggle against Holocaust denial in the future. The recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel is crucial since the denial of the Armenian Genocide is very similar to the denial of the Holocaust of the Jews. One might view this attitude as a moral failure. I am sure, a great many Jews, in Israel and in the world, will continue the struggle for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel and by the world. This is our obligation to ourselves as human beings; this is our obligation as Jews and as Israelis.

I will speak about the special connections between our two peoples, about Jewish memory and Armenian memory, about the attitudes of the State of Israel to the Armenian Genocide, and then conclude with some general comments about our common responsibilities, Jews and Armenians alike, regarding moral issues.

There are similar characteristics in the history of the Armenian and the Jewish peoples, who for long periods lived as ethno-religious minorities among majorities, different from and hostile to them. The genocides we, Jews and Armenians alike, have suffered have created another similarity and connection between us.

Let me demonstrate the special connections between our two peoples by recalling two examples which appear in my first book:.

In 1918, Shmuel Talkowsky, the secretary of Chaim Weizmann, the Zionist leader who became the first president of the State of Israel, wrote with the approval of Weizmann, an important article entitled "The Armenian Question from a Zionist Point of View."

"We Zionists look upon the fate of the Armenian people with a deep and sincere sympathy; we do so as men as Jews and as Zionists. As men our motto is "Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto." "I am a human being. Whatever affects another human being affects me." As Jews our exile from our ancestral home and our centuries of suffering in all parts of the globe have made us, I would fain say specialists in martyrdom; our humanitarian feelings have been refined to an incomparable degree, so much so that the sufferings of other people – even alien to us in blood and remote from us in distance – cannot but strike the deeper chords of our soul and weave between us and our fellow-sufferers that deep bond of sympathy which one might call solidarity of sorrow.

And among all those who suffer around us, is there a people whose record of martyrdom is more akin to ours than that of the Armenians? As Zionists we have a peculiar question of principle. Zionism being in its essence nothing else than the Jewish expression of the demand for national justice, it is natural and logical for us to be deeply interested in the struggle for emancipation of any other living nation. … In our opinion, a free and happy Armenia, a free and happy Arabia, and a free and happy Jewish Palestine, are the three pillars on which will rest the future peace and welfare of the Middle East." This was written, I remind you in 1918. Unfortunately the policy of the State of Israel is very far from the principle raised by the Zionist movement 92 years ago.

Jewish memory and Armenian memory

Jewish history in the post-Holocaust era cannot be understood without an awareness of the profound and lasting influence of the Holocaust. The Second World War and the Holocaust on one hand, and the establishment of the State of Israel on the other, fundamentally changed the history of the Jews. Within a period of only a few years the Jewish People experienced its greatest disaster and witnessed the birth of the Jewish State and Jewish sovereignty.

In spite of the passage of time, Jewish attitudes to the Holocaust and its implications remain a crucial element in contemporary Jewish identity. From the point of view of Jewish and Israeli identity, and from an educational point of view, this raises a substantive question, which is relevant in my opinion also to the Armenians: Is it possible in the long term to foster an identity on the basis of elements which are fundamentally negative? Is not a balance called for in terms of positive Jewish elements?

Similarly, Armenian history in the post-genocide era cannot be understood without an awareness of the profound and lasting influence of the genocide on the first, second, third and now even fourth generation. In spite of the passage of time, and even maybe because of it, Armenian attitudes toward the genocide and its implications remain a crucial element in contemporary Armenian identity in Armenia and, even more, in Armenian communities all over the world. The genocide is a central component today in the attitudes of young Armenians – the third and the forth generation – when viewing themselves as Armenians, be it the U.S, Canada, Armenia, Australia, Israel or elsewhere.

Furthermore, for you Armenians, there is also the painful fact that your genocide is unfortunately not recognized. By denial you have been victimized twice. There is something sad, even depressing in the ongoing efforts of the Armenians and their supporters over 95 years to gain recognition from the international community and the many states where they are living in diasporas as a direct consequence, very often, of the genocide. During the past 20 years I have seen your struggle in Israel, as well as in many other Armenian communities across the world.

The attitudes of the State of Israel

I know how important for the Armenians is the attitude of the Jews, especially the attitude of the State of Israel, to their genocide. Concern with that position is raised again and again, I believe, because the State of Israel was populated by people who were victims of a similar genocide.

The State of Israel has officially refrained from relating to the Armenian Genocide. A combination of factors connected to Israel's relations with Turkey and concepts of the uniqueness of the Shoah have brought about an almost total absence of its mention by Israeli representatives. Government ministers - apart from a few such as Yair Tzaban, Yossi Sarid, Yossi Beilin and Haim Oron [all members of the same liberal party, Meretz - Ed.] - have systematically avoided the issue altogether by declining to participate in Armenian Memorial Day ceremonies.

Public debates and argument about that official attitude towards the Armenian genocide has erupted several times due to a number of events. In 1978, a film on the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem was banned from being screened. In 1982, the Israeli Government intervened unsuccessfully to bar an International Congress on the subject of the Shoah and Genocide, pressing the organizers to eliminate lectures on the Armenian Genocide. In 1989, Israel was involved in preventing Congress from recognizing the Armenian genocide in the American calendar. In one way or another Israel and Jews were involved in the debate in the State also in1985,1987,1989, 2000, and 2007' and eventually in 2010. In 1990, the showing of "Armenian Journey", a TV film produced in U.S., was banned.

In this context I would like to mention two statements. One was made by Yossi Sarid, at that time the Minister of Education, on April 24, 2000 at the memorial gathering of the Armenian community in Jerusalem. Sarid sympathized with the pain of the Armenians over the denial of the genocide. He concluded his statement with a commitment to ensure that the Armenian Genocide be included in the Israeli secondary school history curriculum.

He stated:

"I would like to see a central chapter on genocide, on this huge and inhuman atrocity. The Armenian genocide should occupy a prominent place in this program, which does justice to the national and personal memory of every one of you, to the memory of all the members of your nation. This is our obligation to you, this is our obligation to ourselves."

Sadly nothing resulted from this courageous statement.

About a year later, on April 10, 2001, the Foreign Minster of Israel (now the president) Shimon Peres was quoted as saying "We regret attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy but not a genocide". This statement was repeated by the Israeli Ambassador to Armenia Rivka Cohen in February 2002. These statements may be regarded as Israel's escalation from passive to active denial, from moderate denial to hard-line denial. An Armenian friend told me, rightly so, "I do not know of any enlightened politician in a democratic state that has ever made remarks such as these; You, the Jews, of all people."

The Armenian Genocide was raised in the Israeli Parliament around the month of April (the Armenian Memorial day) in 2007, 2008, and 2009 by a member of the Knesset, Haim Oron, who asked the Knesset to debate the issue, but the government opposed his request. The issue will be raised by Oron another time in the next weeks, without any chance to gain the majority.

Jewish and Israeli responsibility

It is clear to all those who are involved overtly and covertly in the controversies regarding Israel’s attitude to the Armenian Genocide – Jews, Turks, Armenians – and also to the rest of the world, that the issue has special moral significance. The fact that the country in question is of a people that was the victim of the Holocaust, and the unique problems that resulted, come to the fore .

The recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel is crucial in this regard, since the denial of the Armenian Genocide is very similar to the denial of the Holocaust of the Jews.

The State of Israel continues to struggle against Holocaust denial on one hand, but participates in the denial of another genocide on the other. This most likely will damage the struggle against Holocaust denial in the future. One might view this attitude as a moral failure. We have to remember that moral claims can have influence only if they are consistent.

Many observers estimate, in the case of the Armenians, that one act could radically change the long-standing denial of their Genocide: recognition of the Genocide by the United States or Israel. These are the pivotal countries that could bring about a Turkish recognition of the Genocide. There is a connection or even interdependence between the decisions of the two states. If one of them recognized the Genocide, sooner or later the second would do the same.

There is no doubt that morally speaking, Israel should be the first. Sadly, however, taking a realistic view of Israeli society and policy, this is not likely to happen in the near future.

Everyone would agree that Israel has no right to bargain with the memory of the Holocaust. But, even more, it has no right – by no means, in any circumstances, and much less so than any other country – to bargain with the memory of another victim group. And yet Israel did just that with the Armenian Genocide. Israel is contributing to the process of genocide denial and by doing so, it also betrays the memory and the legacy of the Holocaust, at least from my point of view.

The attitudes of Israel and its society towards the Armenian genocide and towards other cases of genocide have a unique significance. It is because of the unique history of our people: the victim during the Nazi period, we, Israelis are, unique third parties. Our attitudes towards Genocides – the attitudes towards genocides of the present and towards genocides of the past, is in many ways an example to the rest of the world that finds itself regarding the Israeli attitudes as a moral reference point.

Our common struggle for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide bears, at least for me, a major moral significance, and in our joint moral struggle we must be consistent. That should mean that every human and every people, but in my opinion especially we, Jews and Armenians, have a continuing obligation never again to be victims, of course never to be perpetrators, but also never to be bystanders.

I can assure you that I, and I am sure, a great many Jews, in Israel and in the world, will continue the struggle for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel and by the world. This is our obligation to ourselves as human beings; this is our obligation as Jews and as Israelis.

This lecture was delivered in Paris to the International Colloquiem of the Bureau Francais de la Cause Armeniénne - Armenia-Turkey: How to normalize relations? on April 14, 2010.

Yair Auron is a professor in the field of genocide and contemporary Judaism at the Open University of Israel and the Kibbutzim College of Education.

Professor Auron has published numerous books and essays, mainly on genocide and on Jewish identity in Israel and Europe. He is the author of books in Hebrew such as Between Paris and Jerusalem (Selected Passages of Contemporary Jewish Thought in France); Jewish-Israeli Identity; Sensitivity to World Suffering: Genocide in the 20th Century; and We Are All German Jews: Jewish Radicals in France During the 60s and 70s (also in French). His book The Banality of Indifference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide was published in both Hebrew and English (Transaction Publishers, 2000). His book, The Banality of Denial: Israel and the Armenian Genocide was published in Hebrew and English (Transaction Publishers 2003).

Most recently, Auron is co-author of A Perfect Injustice: Genocide and the Theft of Armenian Wealth (Transaction Publishers, 2009) with Hrayr S. Karagueuzian. He is currently editing for the Open University a series of twelve books in Hebrew entitled Genocide, which includes theoretical volumes concerning the phenomenon of genocide as well as an analysis of case studies such as the Holocaust, the genocide of the Gypsies, the Armenian genocide and other historical and contemporary genocides such as Rwanda, Tibet and Indian population of the Americas. In this series, he published in 2009 Reflections on the Inconceivable: Theoretical Aspects of Genocide Studies, and in 2007 The Armenian Genocide: Forgetting and Denying. In 2006, his book Genocide: So That I Will Not Be among the Silent, was also published in this series. His book Israeli Identities: Jews and Arabs Facing Mirror and the Other in 2010 is published in Israel by Resling and in a few months will be published in English in the United States by Berghahn Books.