Armenian Genocide: Let's Call it What it Is

For years, Israel has refrained from referencing the slaughter of millions of Armenians at the hands of the Turks as a "genocide" for fear of upsetting Israel's only "ally" in the Muslim world, Turkey. However, recent current events call into question whether or not Turkey is an ally at all. Turkey has been at the forefront of the Israel bashing, whether it be their criticism of Israel during its wars against Hezbollah in 2005 or Operation Cast Lead in 2008, or its role in the so-called "Flotilla Incident." Is this a way to treat your "ally?"

Shortly after the disastrous flotilla incident, Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced that Israel should be "punished" for its "bloody massacre" of the so-called activists aboard the so-called humanitarian ship. However, the Prime Minister all but ignored requests from the Prime Minister of Israel to help prevent any confrontation. Erdogan's attacks on Israel go back to 2002 when he called Israel a "terror state," a pretty bold statement from a country that has yet to acknowledge its role in the slaughter of over half of the world's 2.5 million Armenians.

We as Jews have a duty and an obligation to speak out against injustice in the world and to acknowledge any attempt at ethnic cleansing. Turkey can deny all they want and wish it would go away, but if it walks like a duck, and looks like a duck ...

Perhaps it's time, as Peter Balakian notes here for Israel to rethink this relationship.