On Sunday, the Armenian people marked the 101st anniversary of the “Great Crime” — the Armenian genocide. During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to acknowledge the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire, and subsequently the Turkish republic, in 1915. This is the last time this event will be marked during Obama’s presidency, and once again he has broken his promise and disappointed the Armenian people. As it turns out, Obama’s debilitating fear of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s response is stronger than his moral duty.

To be honest, I feel slightly embarrassed criticizing Obama on this issue. Who are we to judge? Israel itself has yet to acknowledge this abhorrent crime. Israel is not a superpower like the United States, but as a Jewish nation, it must demonstrate great sensitivity on the matter.

As a Jewish nation, Israel has assumed the role of fighting anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial and has rightfully asserted that there is no political or diplomatic consideration that could ever justify Holocaust denial. So, are Israel’s hands clean on this matter? Shamefully, they are not. The fact that Israel, the Jewish nation, has failed to officially acknowledge the Armenian genocide, makes it a something of an accomplice to the senseless denial of this terrible crime.

There are, however, many differences between the Jewish Holocaust and the Armenian genocide. The Holocaust is unique in both the design and industrialization of the Nazi endeavors to annihilate the Jewish people, as well as in the number of the victims of the Holocaust.

Nevertheless, the intentional murder of more than 1 million Armenians by the Turks was a crime against humanity and one of the greatest crimes in history. Turkey denies the historical facts and employs every diplomatic tool at its disposal to foil any recognition of the genocide and shirk responsibility for it.

Our Jewish nation must not participate in this denial. When expressing my position on this matter I am often dismissed for being naive, and for my so-called lack of understanding of political realities. I am often reminded of Israel’s special relations with Turkey and the clear strategic interest Israel has in expanding ties with this Middle Eastern power.

However, those who advocated the political pragmatism of denying the Armenian genocide, have stuck to their guns even when Erdogan rose to power and led openly hostile and extreme anti-Israeli policy, claiming that recognizing the genocide would further exacerbate the animosity between Israel and Turkey.

Now, they would surely warn against such recognition as it could undermine the normalization carefully crafted between the Jerusalem and Ankara. Apparently, there is never a good time for ethical politics.

I am not trying to belittle Israel’s diplomatic interests, which are dependent on relations with Turkey, and I am aware of the damage acknowledging the Armenian genocide could wreak on those ties. However, just as we, as Jews, would never accept any interest that would justify Holocaust denial, there is no interest whatsoever that could justify our denial, as Jews, of the Armenian genocide.

This is the place to praise the late Yossi Sarid for being the only senior Israeli politician who refused to participate in this denial. While serving as education minister in 2000, Sarid announced plans to include the Armenian genocide in Israel’s history curriculum, even if it meant spoiling Israel-Turkey relations. For the most part, my political views could not be more different from Sarid’s, but on this issue I have always appreciated his unusual position. He acted like the one righteous man in Sodom.

It is time to acknowledge the Armenian genocide and Turkey’s part in it. With all due respect to realpolitik, perhaps Israel should adhere to moralpolitik.