{"id":191661,"date":"2025-09-01T14:32:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T14:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/191661\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T14:32:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T14:32:19","slug":"leading-genocide-scholars-organization-says-israel-is-committing-genocide-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/191661\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading genocide scholars organization says Israel is committing genocide in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) \u2014 The largest professional organization of scholars studying genocide said Monday that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The determination by the International Association of Genocide Scholars \u2014 which has around 500 members worldwide, including a number of Holocaust experts \u2014 could serve to further isolate Israel in global public opinion and adds to a growing chorus<\/a> of organizations that have used the term for Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza. Israel rejects the accusation and called the resolution an \u201cembarrassment to the legal profession.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael\u2019s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide,\u201d according to group\u2019s resolution, which was supported by 86% of those who voted. The organization did not release the specifics of the voting.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are experts in the study of genocide can see this situation for what it is,\u201d Melanie O\u2019Brien, the organization\u2019s president and a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia, told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

In the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. Forty-eight hostages<\/a> remain in Gaza, around 20 of whom Israel believes are alive. <\/p>\n

In Israel\u2019s ensuing offensive, large swaths of Gaza have been leveled and most of the territory\u2019s over 2 million people have been displaced. More than 63,000 Palestinians have died, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but that around half have been women and children.<\/p>\n

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes the figures but has not provided its own.<\/p>\n

The scholars\u2019 resolution accused Israel of crimes including \u201cindiscriminate and deliberate attacks against the civilians and civilian infrastructure\u201d in Gaza and called on Israel to \u201c immediately cease all acts that constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

It begins with an acknowledgment that Hamas\u2019 attack<\/a> \u201cconstitutes international crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genocide was codified<\/a> in a 1948 convention drawn up after the horrors of the Holocaust that defines it as acts \u201ccommitted with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.\u201d The U.N. 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 U.N.\u2019s highest court.<\/p>\n

Israel \u2014 founded in part as a refuge in the wake of the Holocaust, when some 6 million European Jews were murdered \u2014 vehemently denied it is committing genocide. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe IAGS has set a historic precedent \u2014 for the first time, \u2018Genocide Scholars\u2019 accuse the very victim of genocide \u2014 despite Hamas\u2019s attempted genocide against the Jewish people,\u201d Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. \u201cDisgraceful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel says Hamas is prolonging the war<\/a> by not surrendering and releasing the hostages. In recent days, it began the initial stages of a new offensive and declared Gaza City a combat zone<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The scholars group, founded in 1994, has previously held that China\u2019s treatment of the minority Muslim Uyghurs<\/a> and Myanmar\u2019s crackdown on Rohingya Muslims<\/a> meet the threshold for genocide.<\/p>\n

In 2006, the organization said statements by then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in which he called for Israel to be \u201cwiped off the map,\u201d had \u201cgenocidal intent.\u201d <\/p>\n

In July, two prominent Israeli rights groups \u2014 B\u2019Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel \u2014 said their country is committing genocide in Gaza. The organizations do not reflect mainstream thinking in Israel, but it marked the first time that local Jewish-led organizations have made such accusations. <\/p>\n

International human rights groups<\/a> have also leveled the allegation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, South Africa has accused Israel of breaching the Genocide Convention<\/a> at the International Court of Justice \u2014 an allegation Israel rejects.<\/p>\n

The court does not have a police force to implement its ruling<\/a>, which could take years, but if a nation believes another member has failed to comply with an ICJ order, it can report that to the U.N. Security Council.<\/p>\n

The council is able to impose sanctions and even authorize military action, but each of the five permanent members holds a veto, including Israel\u2019s staunchest ally, the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he does not believe genocide is taking place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) \u2014 The largest professional organization of scholars studying genocide said Monday that Israel is…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":191662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[97,356,4219,69,4526,57,18890,4527,99,3462,373,107109,107110,3463,50,9598,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-191661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-gaza-strip","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-genocide","15":"tag-hamas","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-israel-government","18":"tag-israel-hamas-war","19":"tag-mahmoud-ahmadinejad","20":"tag-melanie-obrien","21":"tag-mideast-wars","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-palestinian-territories-government","24":"tag-world","25":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115129532071986610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}