Israeli Minister Affirms Genocide

For Immediate Release
April 25, 2000

Contact: John De Trana
 202/393-3434

Israeli Minister Affirms Genocide

Washington, DC -- Israeli Minister of Education Yossi Sarid marked the 85th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Monday, pointedly drawing attention to the significance of his official presence at the memorial gathering in Jerusalem.

In a powerfully-worded statement released in Washington, DC by the Armenian National Institute, the Minister said, "For many years, too many years, you were alone on your Memorial Day. I am aware of the special significance of my presence here today, along with other Israelis. Today perhaps for the first time, you are less alone." He stated also: "I am here, with you, as a human being, as a Jew, as an Israeli, and as Education Minister of the State of Israel."

The Minister also noted that it was a Jewish ambassador of America to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau III who in 1915 was among the first and most determined in telling the world about the massacres, and ultimately, genocide then taking place in Armenia.

"The Minister's statement in Jerusalem on Memorial Day is deeply moving, and at the same time, most encouraging to Armenians seeking worldwide affirmation of the Armenian Genocide," said Robert A. Kaloosdian, Chairman of the Armenian National Institute (ANI) Board of Governors. "Last April, an ANI delegation traveled to Armenia with the grandson and great-grandsons of Ambassador Morgenthau and they were widely honored there. We are pleased that the Israeli administration also remembers Ambassador Morgenthau and publicly applauds those, like him, who speak out against genocide, this crime against all humanity."

The Minister of Education concluded his statement with a commitment to ensure that the Armenian Genocide be included in the Israeli secondary school history curriculum. Its inclusion has previously been blocked by the foreign ministry, which fears possible repercussions on Israel's relations with Turkey. The current Turkish government continues to deny the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

The Armenian National Institute is dedicated to the study, research, and affirmation of the Armenian Genocide.

* Attachment: Speech of the Minister of Education Yossi Sarid, Jerusalem, Israel, dated April 24, 2000. (See below)

(For more information or to arrange interviews with the grandson of Ambassador Morgenthau, Henry Morgenthau IV, or Dr. Rouben Adalian, Director of the Armenian National Institute, please call 202/ 383-9009.)

Speech of Mr. Yossi Sarid, Minister of Education of Israel, at the Armenian memorial gathering, morning of April 24, 2000.

I join you, members of the Armenian community, on your Memorial Day, as you mark the 85th anniversary of your genocide. I am here, with you, as a human being, as a Jew, as an Israeli, and as Education Minister of the State of Israel.

Every year, Armenians gather in Israel and all over the world to remember and to remind the world of the terrible disaster, that befell your people at the beginning of the last century.

For many years, too many years, you were alone on your Memorial Day. I'm aware of the special significance of my presence here today along with other Israelis. Today perhaps for the first time you are less alone.

The Armenian Memorial Day should be a day of reflection and introspection for all of us, a day of soul-searching. On this day, we as Jews, victims of the Shoah should examine our relationship to the pain of others.

The massacre, which was carried out by the Turks against the Armenians in 1915 and 1916, was one of the most horrible acts to occur in modern times.

The Jewish ambassador of America to Turkey in those days, Henry Morgenthau, described the massacre as "The greatest crime in modern history." Morgenthau did not predict what was in store later in the 20th century for the Jews, the Shoah, the most terrible of all is still in front of our eyes.

The person who was most shocked and shocked many people was the Prague-born Jewish author, Franz Werfel, with his masterpiece The Forty Days of Musa Dagh. The idea for writing the book was born in March 1929, when Werfel visited Damascus on his way to Palestine. He wrote: "The pitiful scene of the starved and mutilated children of the Armenian refugees gave me the last push to redeem the cruel fate of the Armenian people from the abyss of oblivion."

The book that appeared in German in 1933 shocked millions of people. Adolf Hitler was then in power. The Forty Days of Musa Dagh was thrown into the flames along with other forbidden books. The book was translated into Hebrew in 1934, and influenced many young people in Eretz Israel including me.

For me and for many youngsters my generation in Israel, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh had a formative effect on our personality and our world outlook.

Today in Israel very few youngsters have heard about Musa Dagh, very few know about the Armenian Genocide. I know how important the position of the Jews, and especially the attitude of the State of Israel to your genocide, are for Armenians in the world. As Minister of Education of the State of Israel, I will do whatever is in my capacity in order that this monumental work The Forty Days of Musa Dagh is once more well known to our children. I will do everything in order that Israeli children learn and know about the Armenian Genocide. Genocide is a crime against humanity and there is nothing more horrible and odious than Genocide. One of the objectives of our education - our main objective - is to instill sensitivity to the harm to the innocent based on nationality alone. We, Jews, as principal victims of murderous hatred are doubly obligated to be sensitive, to identify with other victims.

We have to evoke among the young generation natural and deep indignation against manifestations of genocide in the past, in the present and in future. Genocide is the root of all evil and we have to make supreme political and educational efforts to uproot and extirpate it.

Whoever stands indifferent in front of it, or ignores it, whoever makes calculations, whoever is silent always helps the perpetrator of the crime and not the murdered.

In 1918, Shmuel Talkowsky, the secretary of Chaim Weizmann wrote with the approval of Weitzmann, an important article entitled "The Armenian Question from a Zionist Standpoint."

Among other things, he said. "We, Zionists, have deep and candid sympathy for the fate of the Armenian people. We do this as human beings, as Jews and as Zionists. As human beings our motto is: I am a human being. Whatever affects another human being affects me."

"As Jews, as an ancient exiled people we suffered in all parts of the world. I dare say, they made us experts of martyrdom. Our humanitarian sentiments are so sharpened that nobody matches us. The suffering of any nation no matter how foreign to us or how far from us, affects deeply the chords of our souls, and created between us and the suffering nation a profound sympathy which we can call the "brotherhood of affliction." Among the nations who suffer in our neighborhood there is no nation whose martyrdom is more similar than the Armenian people. As Zionists we have several reasons to sympathize with the Armenian Question. As Zionism by its essence is nothing but the Jewish expression of the demand for national justice, it is natural and logical, that the struggle of a nation for emancipation arouses in us a profound interest. We are convinced that in that region of the globe--the Middle East -- the birthplace of our nation -- Eretz Israel, is only a small part of it, will secure peace and prosperity when the well-defined national aspirations will be fulfilled (to the maximum extent possible.) In our view, a free and prosperous Armenia, free and prosperous Arab land and free and prosperous Eretz Israel are the three pillars on which will be built peace and calm in the Middle East."

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