Jewish groups welcomed Biden's designation of an Armenian genocide

WASHINGTON (JTA) — One Wednesday in October 2007, seven Jewish lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee did something extraordinary: They ignored the pleas of the Jewish establishment.

Jewish politicos were often happy to advance the agenda of the Jewish groups because it lined up with their ideals.

On this occasion, several powerhouse lobbying groups in the Jewish community were pressing the committee not to advance a bill that would recognize as a genocide the 1915 Ottoman massacres of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during World War I.

The bill passed out of the committee in a la...