TEL AVIV — Israel’s Cabinet voted unanimously on Sunday to formally recognize the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during World War I as a genocide, a policy shift reflecting deteriorating ties between Israel and Turkey.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who brought the proposal to the Cabinet, said the decision fulfilled a “moral and historical duty.” He noted that Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had previously described the violence as a genocide in public remarks, but the government had never taken a formal vote on the matter.
“Despite the extensive and unambiguous historical documentation, the Armenian Genocide remains to this day the subject of an institutionalized campaign of denial and minimization, including a manipulative rewriting of history, mainly by the Turkish government,” Saar said.
The measure still needs to be approved by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. A date for that vote has not been set.
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. The event is recognized by a majority of genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey rejects the genocide label, saying the death toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
For years, Israel avoided officially broaching the subject out of concern for damaging its strategic relationship with Turkey. That relationship has soured over the past two decades, particularly under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leading Israel to reassess its position.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry swiftly condemned the Israeli decision, calling it a “politically motivated” step designed to distract from Israel’s own military actions.
“The Israeli government, which systematically persecutes the Palestinian people in full view of the world and is being tried at the International Court of Justice for genocide against the people of Gaza, aims to cover up its own crimes,” the ministry said in a statement. It also referenced International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials over alleged crimes in Gaza.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials. Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, says over 73,000 people have been killed in the ensuing war, roughly half of them women and children. Israel says it does not target civilians and accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
Last week, a team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations accused Israel of deliberately shooting children in Gaza and repeated accusations of genocide. Israel rejected the report as a “libelous sham.”
Saar noted that 32 countries, including the United States, have also formally recognized the Armenian killings as a genocide.