On 28 June 2026, the Government of Israel unanimously approved Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s proposal to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide. The official government release summarizes the minister’s remarks at the Cabinet meeting.
Official source
Government of Israel statement: https://www.gov.il/en/pages/the-government-of-israel-unanimously-approves-fm-sa-ar-s-proposal-to-recognize-the-armenian-genocide-28-jun-2026
What the Cabinet decided
In the minister’s words, the resolution constitutes Israel’s formal recognition of the genocide committed against the Armenian people during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The account places the beginning on 24 April 1915—the arrest, deportation, and murder of Armenian clergy, leaders, and intellectuals in Constantinople—and describes the systematic destruction of the Armenian population, with approximately 1.5 million deaths and the erasure of millennia of cultural heritage in Anatolia.
Denial and political framing
Sa’ar stressed that, despite extensive documentation, the Armenian Genocide remains the target of institutionalized denial and minimization, especially by the Turkish government. He said recognition is not an “act of retaliation” for Turkey’s hostility under Erdoğan, and that promoting false narratives against Israel does not grant immunity from historical truths.
Background in Israel
- Earlier statements, including by Prime Minister Netanyahu and then Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, favoring recognition.
- The Zionist Organization decided about a decade ago to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
- Earlier Knesset resolution attempts that did not succeed (for example under Speaker Yuli Edelstein).
- In 2016, the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee announced recognition and called on the government and Knesset to follow; that step did not then become government policy.
Armenian community in Israel
The minister said he had received a letter of appreciation from the Armenian Church and the Armenian community in Jerusalem. He noted a diaspora of roughly 7–8 million (versus fewer than 3 million in Armenia) and a community of thousands in Israel, mostly in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter.
For readers
This milestone joins the jurisdictions shown in our “Recognition worldwide” strip and our laws-and-resolutions tracker. As always, prefer the full official text over headlines alone.