The Eastern Mediterranean region is not known for having the easiest of political situations. Two nations not typically focused on in tandem, but share similar struggles are the states of Armenia and Israel. From both experiencing genocides, to being minorities surrounded by what can be considered hostile neighbors, Armenia and Israel have similar backgrounds. Despite that, due to geopolitics, including Israel's relationships with Azerbaijan and Turkey, relations between the two nations are not where they would be expected to be. Israel's recent motion to recognize the Armenian Genocide (and the concurrent Assyrian and Greek Genocides) committed by Ottoman Turks and Kurds is commendable and certainly a great step in the right direction. Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, said that the issue of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide will be brought to a plenary voting when the Knesset secures a majority for recognition. "The Israeli Knesset must recognize the Armenian Genocide because it is the right and moral thing to do- and not because of political or momentary diplomatic interests...The moment we are convinced the Knesset will have a majority for recognition, we will bring it to a plenary voting," he added. Meretz chairwoman, Tamar Zandberg, who introduced the motion to the Knesset, said that recognizing the Armenian Genocide "shouldn't hurt ties with any country. This is a basic moral issue.... We, the Jewish people, know the value of recognizing national tragedies." Israel's lack of official recognition of the Armenian genocide and its ongoing support of Azerbaijan, which actively seeks the annihilation of Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), and Armenians, has added to the lack of otherwise presumed cooperation between the two countries. Israel supplying weapons to Azerbaijan--a country that actively teaches that Armenians are devils and deserving of death--while the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has no foreseeable conclusion, is a major point of contention for Armenians. The 1988 "Karabakh File" by the Zoryan Institute states that "Karabakh, the historic Artsakh province, is central to Armenian cultural and historical identify and statehood... [and it is also] one of the few remaining districts of historic Armenia still inhabited by a majority Armenian population." The Nagorno Karabakh or Artsakh Republic is historically and demographically Armenian territory. In the face of continued Azeri persecution, Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence in 1991. Its constitution "recognizes the fundamental human rights and freedoms as inalienable and supreme value, for freedom, justice and peace." Armenian officials have long been seeking a peaceful resolution for the Artsakh-Azerbaijan conflict while the Azeri military continuously targets Artsakh in an attempt to destroy it. Between April 1 and 5, 2016, for example, Azerbaijan launched a full-blown attack on multiple positions of Artsakh and targeted Armenian civilians indiscriminately. Casualties included the 12-year-old Armenian boy, Vaghinag Grigoryan, and elderly couple, Valera Khalapyan and his wife, Razmela, who were found shot in their homes with their ears cut off. Another resident, Marousya Khalapyan, born in 1924, was also murdered by the Azeri military. Azeri soldiers also beheaded the 20-year-old Yazidi soldier of the Armenian army, Kyaram Sloyan. Pictures of Azeri soldiers holding Sloyan

James Hasso is an Assyrian-Armenian American activist whose great grandparents had survived the 1913-1923 Armenian-Assyrian-Greek Genocide and the ongoing pogroms against Assyrians in the Middle East after WWI.