The issue of recognizing the Armenian genocide was not brought to a vote in Israel’s Knesset because of pressure from Azerbaijan. Haaretz reported this, citing a source.
According to the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocked the vote after Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to the president of Azerbaijan, contacted the prime minister’s office.
The paper says the Israeli government had already informed Azerbaijani officials that the matter had been removed from the parliamentary agenda.
The office of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who initiated the vote, rejected the claim that the item was pulled because of Netanyahu’s intervention. At the same time, it did not offer journalists any other explanation for why the matter was not submitted to the Knesset for consideration.
How the initiative developed
On June 28, Israel’s government unanimously approved Sa’ar’s proposal to recognize the Armenian genocide committed in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. After that, the cabinet was supposed to formally notify the Knesset and submit the matter for approval at a plenary session.
Baku’s reaction
“Such steps serve not reconciliation and mutual understanding, but a further deepening of existing contradictions and hinder efforts to ensure sustainable peace and reconciliation in the region. We call on the government of Israel to reconsider its decision,” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said.
Representatives of Azerbaijan’s largest Jewish communities also opposed further продвижение of the initiative and sent an appeal to Knesset deputies.