Israel Knesset member Aryeh Eldad said on Sunday that the silence of the world at the time of the Turkish genocide of Armenians in the early 1900s paved the way for similar behavior during the Nazi genocide against the Jews later in the century.

The question of Israeli recognition of the Armenian genocide is scheduled for discussion by the Knesset Education Committee on December 26.

Israel's national security advisor, Yakov Amidror, requested further information on the scheduled debate on behalf of the prime minister's office and, according to press reports, asked to postpone it. Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin reportedly refused, sticking to his years-long position that, of all nations, Israel must address the issue.

Asked on Arutz Sheva's Hebrew journal if consideration of the question should be delayed as relations between Israel and Turkey slowly improve, in the wake of the Mavi Marmara incident of 2010 and the Cast Lead counterterrorism operation in Gaza at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, the National Union lawmaker said, "I deny the possibility that Israeli silence about the Armenian genocide would improve relations between Israel and Turkey."