The bill recognizing the Armenian Genocide was unanimously approved by the Israeli government in late June following an initiative launched by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar. For the recognition to become law, however, it also required approval by Israel's parliament, the Knesset.
The move to recognize the Armenian Genocide was interpreted by observers and analysts as a diplomatic response to Turkey, which has described Israel's actions in Gaza since 2023 as genocide.
According to an Israeli source, the bill was removed from the Knesset's agenda after Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, contacted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Haaretz, Netanyahu's personal intervention derailed the process.
The bill was withdrawn shortly before the Knesset entered its recess last Friday ahead of Israel's general elections.
Baku, a close partner of both Israel and Turkey and a longstanding opponent of recognition of the Armenian Genocide, had expressed its dissatisfaction after the Israeli cabinet's initial vote in favor of recognition. Although relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated in recent years, Azerbaijan has maintained strong ties with Israel.
Foreign Minister Sa'ar rejected the claims made in the Haaretz report, telling the newspaper: "There is a government decision to recognize the genocide, and it was adopted unanimously... It will not be changed. That is an important and historic fact."
The Haaretz report appears to corroborate recent claims regarding Azerbaijan's role in Israel's decision to withdraw the recognition initiative. Azerbaijan's state news agency APA had previously reported on similar allegations that appeared in the Greek press but avoided discussing the details of Baku's alleged intervention.
Israel and Azerbaijan's "Close" Relationship
A significant share of Israel's oil imports comes from Azerbaijan and is transported through the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey pipeline before being shipped via the Mediterranean. Likewise, Azerbaijan imports Israeli military technology, which played a major role in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. In addition, CNN reported in June that Israeli forces had operated from Azerbaijani territory during the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict that began in February.
Although both Turkey and Azerbaijan publicly opposed Israel's move toward recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Azerbaijan's official statement adopted a noticeably more diplomatic tone.
The statement said: "The distortion of the historical facts concerning the events of 1915 and the reduction of a complex historical issue to a political decision without a sound legal or scholarly basis is unacceptable," and added, "We call on the Israeli government to reconsider this decision."
