Israel Mulls Memorial Day for Armenian Genocide

By Haaretz December 26, 2011

A Knesset committee Monday will consider setting a memorial day for the Armenian genocide, marking a first in Israeli history and stoking criticism that Israel is trying to incite Turkey.

Though a proposal for such a day was submitted in the Knesset eight months ago, action has been delayed until today. The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee, headed by MK Alex Miller (Yisrael Beiteinu ), will discuss the issue in the public hearing; Speaker Reuven Rivlin and Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon will take part.

Up to now, proposals for recognizing the Armenian genocide have been considered by closed sessions of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. That committee rejected the proposals a number of times.

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