THE HAGUE: A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a UN body, have said Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip amounts to genocide, deepening Israel’s isolation and risking untold damage to the country’s standing even among allies.
The accusation is vehemently denied by Israel, which was established in part as a refuge for Jews after the Holocaust. Others have rejected it or said only a court can make that determination.
Even so, global outrage over Israel’s wartime conduct has mounted in recent months, as images of starving children emerged, adding to the humanitarian catastrophe of a 23-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and laid waste to much of Gaza.
A current offensive in the territory’s largest city further raised concern, with some of Israel’s European allies condemning it.
But the genocide accusation goes further, raising the question of whether a state forged in the aftermath of the crime is now committing it.
Israeli leaders brand the argument as veiled antisemitism, saying the country abides by international law and urges Gaza’s civilians to evacuate ahead of major military operations. They say Hamas’ Oct. 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.
Israel’s ensuing operation has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and led to famine in parts. Israeli leaders have also expressed support for the mass relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, a move Palestinians and others say would amount to forcible expulsion.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 65,000 Palestinians have been killed. The ministry — part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals — doesn’t say how many were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up around half.
The definition of genocide
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.”
According to the convention, genocidal acts include: killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part.
Experts and rights groups increasingly use the genocide label
In a report last week, a team of independent experts commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council concluded the war has become an attempt by Israel to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza and constitutes genocide.
The group, which doesn’t speak for the UN, said its determination was based on a pattern of behavior, including Israel’s “total siege” of Gaza, killing or wounding vast numbers of Palestinians, and the destruction of health and educational facilities. Israel says Hamas uses such facilities for military purposes. It lifted a complete 2 1/2 month blockade in May.
Many of the world’s leading experts on genocide have reached the same conclusion, with at least two dozen using the term publicly in the past year. Among them is Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University.
Early in the war, Bartov, who grew up in Israel and served in its military, argued Israel’s actions didn’t amount to genocide.
He changed his mind when Israel took over the city of Rafah, driving out most of its population. He now considers Israel’s actions “a genocidal operation.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called Israel’s conduct genocide this month. “This is not self-defense, it’s not even an attack — it’s the extermination of a defenseless people,” he said.
Two Israeli rights groups have also said it’s genocide. While the groups are respected internationally, their views are not representative of the vast majority of Israelis.
In December, Amnesty International used the term, citing similar findings as the UN-commissioned experts. “Looking at the broader picture of Israel’s military campaign and the cumulative impact of its policies and acts, genocidal intent is the only reasonable conclusion,” it said.
Two weeks later, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of intentionally depriving Gaza of water, saying that amounted to “an act of genocide.”
Others do not see genocide — or say it’s for a court to decide
Israel — where the Holocaust plays a critical role in national identity — casts such allegations as an assault on its very legitimacy. It says Hamas — which doesn’t accept Israel’s right to exist — is prolonging the war by not surrendering and releasing the hostages.
The Foreign Ministry dismissed the report by the UN-commissioned experts as “distorted and false.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel could have committed genocide “in one afternoon” if it wanted, implying it has acted with restraint. Experts say there’s no numerical threshold for the crime.
Responding to a question in August, US President Donald Trump, whose country is Israel’s staunchest backer, said he didn’t think he’d seen evidence to support the accusation.
The Elie Wiesel Foundation, established by the Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, also rejected the characterization.
“Israel’s actions in Gaza do not constitute genocide — they are legitimate acts of self-defense against an organization that seeks Israel’s destruction,” it said in a statement.
Norman Goda, a professor of Holocaust studies at the University of Florida, sees the use of the word as part of “a long-standing effort to delegitimize Israel,” saying the accusations are “laced with antisemitic tropes.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and others say it’s not for politicians or scholars to make the determination.
“We have always been clear that that is a decision for international courts,” then-British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Sky News in May.
The European Union has made a similar argument, as has the Auschwitz memorial, dedicated to the victims at the largest Nazi concentration camp, most of them Jews.
The top UN court has been asked to rule
In late 2023, South Africa accused Israel of genocide at the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice. About a dozen countries have joined the case. A final ruling could take years.
To prove its case, South Africa must establish intent.
Lawyers for the country have already pointed to comments by Israeli leaders, including then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant saying Israel was “fighting human animals,” and Deputy Knesset Speaker Nissim Vaturi saying that Israelis shared the goal of “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth.”
Israeli leaders have downplayed the comments and argued they were taken out of context or directed at Hamas.
Even if it rules for South Africa, the court has no way to stop any genocide or punish perpetrators. Only the UN Security Council can do that — including through sanctions or authorizing military action. The US has a long history of using its veto power there to block resolutions against Israel.
The International Criminal Court, meanwhile, has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, but neither faces genocide charges. They are accused of using starvation as a method of warfare, allegations they deny.
Israel faces increasing pressure
Israel faces increasing pressure, even from countries not calling its actions genocide. There have been calls for exclusion in the cultural and sports sectors, and protests in several European cities.
The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, one of Israel’s staunchest backers, has called for partially suspending trade ties with the country. Germany and the UK, both strong supporters of Israel, have suspended or restricted some military exports.
Goda, the academic who doesn’t think Israel is committing genocide, acknowledged the term has ramifications beyond the legal realm.
“’Genocide’ is a legal term, but it also carries a very heavy political and cultural weight,” he said. “A country committing genocide can never outrun the legacy of that crime.”
