Israeli action in Gaza is genocide, leading scholars say

THE HAGUE: The largest professional organisation of scholars studying genocide said Monday that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

The determination by the International Association of Genocide Scholars — which has around 500 members worldwide, including a number of Holocaust experts — could serve to further isolate Israel in global public opinion and adds to a growing chorus of organizations that have used the term for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Israel has repeatedly rejected the accusation.

“Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide,” as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes, according to group’s resolution, which was supported by 86% of those who voted. The organization did not release the specifics of the voting.

“People who are experts in the study of genocide can see this situation for what it is,” Melanie O’Brien, the organization’s president and a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia, told The Associated Press.

Genocide was codified in a 1948 convention drawn up after the horrors of the Holocaust that defines it as acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” The United Nations and many Western countries have said only a court can rule on whether the crime has been committed. A case against Israel is before the UN’s highest court.

Israel — founded in part as a refuge in the wake of the Holocaust, when some 6 million European Jews were murdered — has vehemently denied it is committing genocide. It has called the accusation an antisemitic “blood libel,” and said that Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war was itself a genocidal act.

In that attack, Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, around 20 of whom Israel believes are alive.

The scholars organisation’s resolution begins with an acknowledgment that the attack “constitutes international crimes.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Israel’s offensive, large swaths of Gaza have been levelled and most of the territory’s 2 million people have been displaced. More than 63,000 Palestinians have died, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but that around half have been women and children.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes the figures but has not provided its own.

Israel says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants fight in densely populated areas. It says Hamas is prolonging the war by not surrendering and releasing the hostages.

Israel’s supporters point out that its powerful military could kill far more Palestinians if it wanted to. Genocide scholars say there is no numerical threshold for the crime.

In 2006, the organisation said statements by then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in which he called for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” had “genocidal intent” and called for urgent action to be taken.

In July, two prominent Israeli rights groups — B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel — said their country is committing genocide in Gaza. The organisations do not reflect mainstream thinking in Israel, but it marked the first time that local Jewish-led organizations have made such accusations.

International human rights groups have also leveled the allegation.

Meanwhile, South Africa has accused Israel of breaching the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice — an allegation Israel rejects. A final ruling could take years.

The court does not have a police force to implement its rulings but if a nation believes another member has failed to comply with an ICJ order, it can report that to the UN Security Council.

The council has tools that range from sanctions to authorizing military action, but all actions require support from at least nine of 15 council nations and no veto by a permanent member — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France. US President Donald Trump, whose country is Israel’s staunchest backer, has said he does not believe genocide is taking place.

Genocide was codified in a 1948 convention drawn up after the horrors of the Holocaust that defines it as acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” The United Nations and many Western countries have said only a court can rule on whether the crime has been committed. A case against Israel is before the UN’s highest court.