Israel's Failed Response to the Armenian Genocide

Israel W. Charny, Ph.D., is an American-Israeli psychologist who lives in the hills of Jerusalem. He was co-founder and then a president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. He was also the founder and first president of the Israel Family Therapy Association and later president of the International Family Therapy Association. For him, the process of genocide starts with “cultural genocide,” especially of dehumanization and attribution of evil intent and destructive power to the victim people. He has openly made a stand against all denials of genocide including the Holocaust and, in particular, the Armenian Genocide, for which he was honored by the Armenian Presidential Gold Medal. He has authored influential books on genocide, including the Encyclopedia of Genocide, Genocide: A Critical Bibliographic Review, and Fascism and Democracy in the Human Mind, each of which were elected “Outstanding Academic Book of the Year” by the American Library Association.

“In Israel’s Failed Response to the Armenian Genocide, Charny… revisits the [First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide], attempts by the Foreign Ministry to torpedo it, and issues a scathing indictment of Israel’s refusal, then and now, to officially recognize genocidal wars against other peoples. … [S]erious consideration of Charny’s claim – ‘the basic and horrendous commonality’ in all genocides, including the Armenian tragedy, should override obsessions about uniqueness and a consensus definition of the ‘category name’ – is as urgently necessary as it has ever been. … Charny makes a compelling case that the principal reason Israeli leaders opposed the conference was their determination to keep the Holocaust, the ‘unbearable cataclysmic tragedy’ of the Jewish people, ‘at the ultimate untouchable apex of a hierarchy of genocidal suffering... the greatest evil ever seen in human history.’ … Irrepressibly candid and combative at age 91, Charny has thrown down the gauntlet.”— Glenn C. Altschuler, The Jerusalem Post“Charny,one of the founders of the modern study of genocide and a strong fighter forthe Armenians against the denial of their genocide by the Turks, does manythings in this relatively short book [including] a denunciation of Israel’ssupport of nations and leaders who have committed genocidal acts. Thisbrilliant book by a scholar and activist … tells a tale full of flame and furybut with a wisdom accumulated over nearly a century of living the ethics thathe upholds—Charny is indefatigable, relentless and humanitarian.”—Jack Nusan Porter,The Jerusalem Post

• Table of ContentsPrefaceOne is Either for Human Life or NotForewordWho Really Lied? The Turks, Armenians, and Jews Revisited Yair AuronIntroductionSummary: The “Good Guys” (Israel) Turn Out to be the Bigger LiarsChapter 1: The First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide in June 1982 in Tel Aviv Was a Milestone Event on Many Levels Supplement 1: Program of Conference—How does One Summarize the Learning that Took Place at the First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide? Supplement 2: Responses of Participants in the First International Conference on the Holocaust and GenocideSupplement 3: Press and Other Public Responses to the First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide, June 1982Supplement 4: “Their Holocaust,” Amos Elon, Haaretz, June 11, 1982Chapter 2: The Conference Really Did Take Place and Very MeaningfullySupplement: Letters Confronting Prime Minister Shimon Peres who Opposed the Conference, and in Later Years Continued Opposition to Recognizing the Armenian GenocideChapter 3: What was Elie Wiesel’s Real Position about the Armenians and about Addressing the Genocides of Many Non-Jewish Peoples Alongside the Holocaust?Supplement: Gallery of Correspondence with Elie WieselChapter 4: Critique: How Should We Have Handled the Threats to Jewish Lives?Chapter 5: Israel’s Tragically Immoral Denials of, and indifference to, the Genocides of Other PeoplesChapter 6: Israel’s Denial-Concealment of the Cruelty, Genocidal Expulsions, and Massacres of Arabs in the Nonetheless Entirely Just War of Independence: A Striking Chapter of the Universal Challenge to All Peoples to Respect and Protect LifeThree Contemporary Updates: The Voices of a Distinguished Contemporary Turk, an Armenian, and a JewChapter 7: A Contemporary Turk: Ragip Zarakolu—The Banality of DenialChapter 8: A Contemporary Armenian: Richard G. Hovannisian: The Armenian Genocide and Extreme Denial Chapter 9: A Contemporary Jew: Michael Berenbaum—The Armenian Genocide, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and IsraelChapter 10: Israel’s Continuing Denial of the Armenian GenocideRaphael Ahren, “Why Israel Still Refuses to Recognize a Century-Old Genocide,” Times of Israel, April 24, 2015Israel Charny with Yair Auron, “If Not Now, When Will Israel Recognize the Armenian Genocide?,” California Courier January 9, 2020Supplementary Chapter 11: Marc I. Sherman: Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem—Highlights of the Story of the First Institute on Genocide in the WorldAfterwordStanding Up for Truth and Justice against Excessive PowerAcknowledgments and Heartfelt ThanksAbout the AuthorIndexTen Commandments for Sovereign Nations and Genocide Scholars Samuel Totten