France, July 3 -- Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who proposed the measure, called the recognition a "moral and historical duty", saying Israel, "as a Jewish state" - built on memories of the genocide of its own people during the Second World War - "had to reject denial and distortion of the historical record".

He also said the Armenian genocide - the state-sponsored ethnic cleansing launched by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 that killed up to 1.5 million ethnic Armenians - had been the subject of an "institutionalised campaign of denial", mainly by the Turkish government.

"It is never too late to do the right thing," Sa'ar added. Political motives

Not everyone accepts the government's explanation.

"This decision is strictly political," sa...