In 2004, the U.S. officially recognized a genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan. Although atrocities continued, the weight of this acknowledgment reverberated throughout the world. The global citizen could no longer claim ignorance regarding the atrocities taking place in Sudan. But neither the U.S. nor Israel have taken what you might think would be an easier stand, to recognize the almost century-old Armenian genocide. It’s important that they do so.

During the Holocaust, Pope Pius XII might have saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Jews by publicly denouncing Hitler early in the War. A public, vocal, and direct denunciation of Hitler’s murderous intentions would have reached the ears of Catholics throughout the world, including German Catholics, who were one third of the population of Germany. Clearly stating the deadly ambitions of the Nazis and serving as a vocal defender of the Jewish people might have prevented the destruction of countless lives. Jews throughout Europe, especially in Poland and Russia, might have been warned of impending danger from the words of such an influential and global figure.

Today, Israel and the U.S. are not in the same position as Pope Pius XII. The Armenian population of Turkey, or anywhere else in the world currently does not face the same threat as European Jews during the Holocaust.

However, they once did face the same fate.

As Rafael Lemkin, a Jewish American of Polish heritage, who coined the phrase “genocide” once stated, “I became interested in genocide because it happened so many times. First to the Armenians, then after the Armenians, Hitler took action.”

Lemkin was not the only Jewish American to acknowledge the genocide of Armenians. In 1915, Ambassador Henry Mornenthau, U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, wrote the following in a dispatch to Washington, describing the deportation of Armenians by the Ottomans: “When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well.”

Finally, if historical truth is not enough incentive to follow the lead of France, Italy, Russia and more than 20 other countries that have formally recognized genocide against the Armenians, let us also pay attention to an important section of the Yad Vashem website:

Among the rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust were Armenians – some of them motivated by the memory of the genocide that the Turks had perpetrated against their families or people at the beginning of the 20th Century. These rescue stories took place in various sites of the Armenian Diaspora – Ukraine, Crimea, Odessa, Vienna, Budapest and France – exemplifying the scattering of their people following the Armenian genocide.

Recognizing the Armenian Genocide might result in a denunciation by the Turkish government. Of course, the U.S and Israel have strategic national security and economic relationships with Turkey. No doubt, relations with Turkey might take a turn for the worse by both countries recognizing the Armenian Genocide. However, over 20 countries have already taken this public stance. These countries have their own strategic relationships with Turkey, yet they’ve all exemplified the moral courage of simply recognizing a historical fact.

The U.S and Israel can also take advantage of this moment in human history when national security and economic concerns have thus far taken precedent over historical record.

We look back at Pope Pius XII and wonder why he had not been more vocal. Let us not allow future generations to ponder why the two countries most closely linked to the memory and prevention of genocide feared uttering a word.

Like Pope Pius XII, the U.S. and Israel are today in a position to vocally convey the truth.

It is safe to say that two American Jews, Lemkin and Morgenthau, who loudly proclaimed the genocide of the Armenians, would have wanted both countries to proclaim what actually happened to the Armenians in 1915.