Visitors to Jerusalem’s Old City might notice a worn canvas sign on a wall just outside the Armenian Quarter— a call for recognition of the systematic murder of Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.

A quiet testament to a cause long unrealized, it took on new weight this week when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the first time, said he recognizes the Armenian genocide.

Asked on a podcast hosted by Patrick Bet-David — whose own family is Armenian-Assyrian Christian from Iran — why Israel doesn’t recognize the genocide, Netanyahu said, “I think we have. I think the Knesset passed a resolution to that effect.”

While no such resolution has passed into law, Bet-David pressed further on why the premier hasn’t personally recognized the genocide.

Netanyahu replied: “I just did. Here you go.”

Though unprecedented, his remarks left the small and historic Armenian community in Jerusalem’s Old City unconvinced.

Armenians have long sought international recognition of the 1915–1917 killings by the Ottoman Empire — which left an estimated 1.5 million of their people dead — as genocide. (Estimates vary widely, but roughly 2 million Armenians lived across the Ottoman Empire before the genocide, and some 2.5 million lived elsewhere.) Turkey, the empire’s successor state, fiercely denies that the massacres, imprisonment, and forced deportation of Armenians amounted to genocide.

BREAKING!

Prime Minister @Netanyahu OFFICIALLY recognizes the Armenian, Assyrian & Greek genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire. pic.twitter.com/fLtsr41YRy

— Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) August 26, 2025

Speaking to The Times of Israel from various corners of the Old City, Armenians said they are still waiting for formal, unequivocal recognition by Jerusalem — and doubted whether Netanyahu’s words marked real change.

Not enough — and politically convenient

From behind the counter of his ceramics shop, artist Vic Lepejian wasn’t impressed by the premier’s comments.

“What about a signed document that the Israeli Knesset, the whole government, recognizes the genocide?” he asked as he sketched upon a ceramic piece he was commissioned to prepare for the Jerusalem headquarters of the........

© The Times of Israel