Israel's President Rivlin Believes 1915 was Genocide but Refrains from Official Statement
Panorama.am earlier covered the conference titled Genocide: History and Memory – Marking one hundred years to the Armenian Genocide that was taking place in Israel from 02 to 04 Nov. Below are the interviews of Panorama.am correspondent in Israel with the conference participants (Prof. Marc Sherman, Prof. Elihu D Rchter, Dr. Israel Charny, Chairman of the conference Yair Auron and California Courier publisher Harut Sassounian) who met with the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin on the last day of the conference. They share their impressions from the meeting.
President Rivlin is well known to have expressed his views on that the events of 1915 were Genocide. He advocated for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel while he was a Member of Parliament. However, after becoming the President he hasn’t made a statement on this issue in this capacity.
During the closed meeting with the participants of the conference President Rivlin referred to his previously voiced views and said that his position on this issue hasn’t changed. However he noted that he has to refrain from making an official statement on this issue for one political reason or another.
Let us remind that in Israel the head of the state is the Prime Minister (currently Benjamin Netanjahu), not the President, and even if President Rivlin did make a statement this would not have amounted to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel but would be of a declarative nature. On the official level Israel continues to deny the Armenian Genocide.
As to what extent Armenia needs the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the state of Israel is yet another question to be asked.