Serj Tankian condemns Israel for recognising Armenian genocide: “Fuck you”
System of a Down singer Serj Tankian has criticised the Israeli government for finally recognising the Armenian genocide of 1915.
Tankian, who is of Armenian descent, published an Instagram Story after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country had “fulfilled a moral duty by recognising the historical truth, and rejecting attempts to deny it”.
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, between 664,000 and 1.2 million Armenians were killed in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1916 during World War I.
Previously, according to EuroNews, Israel had resisted calls to define it as a genocide due to its relations with Turkey, which have now worsened in recent years amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
However, the decision to recognise the genocide now has been met coldly in Armenia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said there is no need to respond and wants to avoid the “political weaponisation” of the subject, per Y Net.
While Pashinyan didn’t say how he truly felt, Tankian didn’t shy away from airing his disgust, stating to his Instagram followers, “For many years, Israel’s government used AIPAC to lobby the US Congress to not recognise the Armenian genocide, to prevent Congress from recognising the Armenian genocide, due to their relationship with Turkey, their intelligence sharing with Turkey, et cetera.”
The rock frontman continued, “Today, the Netanyahu cabinet decided to recognise the Armenian genocide of 1915 — a genocide that led Hitler thinking that he could do what he could do to the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s.”
He then highlighted the ongoing destructive actions caused by the Israeli regime in Israel and Lebanon, adding, “The fact that this government is already committing genocide in Gaza and Lebanon decided to recognise the genocide of my grandparents is the worst fucking thing that they could have done to Armenians — by using our history, our genocide, our pain to their political advantage.”
Finally, Tankian concluded with a succinct two-word message to the Netanyahu regime, stating, “Fuck you.”
Meanwhile, System of a Down have just begun their European summer tour in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 29th, at the Strawberry Arena.
The run of stadium shows, which will see them joined by rock juggernauts Queens of the Stone Age, is set to visit Milan, Berlin, Paris, Warsaw, Düsseldorf, as well as performing two nights at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on July 13th and July 15th.
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