The world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Among the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), 86 percent backed the resolution, declaring that Israel’s “policies and actions in Gaza” had met the legal definition set out in Article II of the 1948 UN Convention on genocide.
The IAGS called upon the government of Israel to “immediately cease” all acts that constitute “genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza”.
The three-page resolution also calls on Israel to cease killing of civilians, including children; starvation; deprivation of humanitarian aid, water, fuel, and other items essential to the survival of the population; sexual and reproductive violence; and forced displacement of the population.
“This is a definitive statement from experts in the field of genocide studies that what is going on the ground in Gaza is genocide,” the association’s president, Melanie O’Brien, a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia, has said.
Since October 05, 2023, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza, as more than 63,000 Palestinians, including children, have been killed. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) destroyed most buildings in the territory and forced nearly all its residents to flee their homes at least once.
A global hunger monitor relied on by the United Nations (UN) warned that parts of the territory are now suffering a man-made famine.
Founded in 1994, the IAGS has a broad membership that includes academics, historians, political scientists and human rights activists. It has adopted previous resolutions identifying genocide, including historical cases such as the Armenian genocide.
Previously, the IAGS recognised genocides in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Armenia, and Myanmar.