An academic who co-authored the United Nations paper that declared a famine in parts of Gaza posted about a “genocide” in the Strip just three weeks after the October 7 massacres.
On October 28, 2023 – the day after Israel began its ground operation in Gaza – Andrew Seal, a senior lecturer in University College London’s (UCL) Institute for Global Health, wrote on X: “Tonight we are witnessing the collapse of perceived moral authority within western governance systems and an implosion of international norms and law [...] #Gaza_Genocide.”
[Missing Credit]
The following month, Seal posted that he opposed removing Hamas from power because it was “unhelpful” in the context of “realistic” peace efforts.
In response to a call for Hamas to be expelled over “extreme rhetoric and war crimes”, he wrote: “Under that criteria the Israeli government would also have to be removed. Not helpful. Biden has to radically move to a realistic peace plan and impose ceasefire. No one else can.”
In January the following year, Seal appeared to defend the Houthis, the US-designated terrorist group that had been indiscriminately attacking international ships passing through the Bab el Mandeb strait in the Red Sea.
Writing about British strikes on Houthi targets a day earlier, he posted: “The UK gov committed an act of war against Yemen overnight [...] The Houthi gov position is that it is acting to prevent #genocide in Gaza.”
[Missing Credit]
In 2018, he marked 70 years since the Nakba – Arabic for “catastrophe”, the word Palestinians use to describe their losses in the War of Independence and the foundation of the Jewish state – saying: “Today marks #Nakba70, the failure of the #BritishMandate and destruction of the state of Palestine by Jewish insurgents.”
Apparently ignoring the fact that there was no “state of Palestine” at the time, he appeared to pin the blame for ongoing regional instability on the actions of those "Jewish insurgents" and the establishment of Israel, writing: “The consequences of Britain’s failure to protect Palestine reverberates today in ongoing instability & conflict.”
[Missing Credit]
Seal is one of seven named members of the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee (FRC), which last Friday declared a famine in Gaza. According to the report, an estimated 514,000 people – nearly a quarter of the Strip’s population – are experiencing famine. The number is expected to rise to 641,000 by the end of September, it said.
Israel rejected the IPC report, calling it “lies” and “modern blood libel,” and the US said it fed into a “false narrative of deliberate mass starvation”.
Seal, an expert in international nutrition, has made dozens of posts on X that suggest bias against Israel.
On October 10 – three days after the Hamas-led massacre – Seal accused Israel of “clearly committing war crimes against the people of Gaza”. This was before Israel began its ground operations.
A week later, on October 18, he posted about “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide”. Israel's full-scale invasion of Gaza started on October 27.
Dr Andrew Seal (Photo: UCL)[Missing Credit]
On October 26, 2023, Seal posted on X: “When the dust and the blood settle the UK needs an in-depth investigation as to how our political system has been so degraded by foreign influence that our government and opposition publicly endorse war crimes.”
Then on November 9, the academic shared a link to a JC story about Jewish members of Rishi Sunak’s government and wrote: “Jewish members of UK cabinet, as reported by Jewish Chronicle, 2022. Surely, members of gov w[ith] family members living in either Palestine or Israel or fighting on either side of #PalestineIsraelConflict need to declare a COI? Same applies to shadow cabinet.”
He went on to suggest, as “a matter of national security,” that journalists should outline leaders' connection to the Jewish State or the Palestinian territories before interviews.
“At the least, journalists should be prefacing each interview by briefing the audience about the politician's personal interests in either Israel or Palestine. This is a matter of national security and our leaders personal interests and concerns should be transparent,” Seal posted.
He went on: “We are in situation where UK gov has been/still is unwilling or unable to speak out against most serious war crimes, including ethnic cleansing and, arguably, genocide; putting itself outside the global consensus, pitted against the UNSC & international norms, we have to ask why?”
Meanwhile, the academic said the “importance” of Holocaust Memorial Day in 2024 was “emphasised” by the findings of the International Court of Justice. He posted: “The horrors inflicted by the Nazis should never be forgotten and #genocide against any group must never be allowed. #NeverAgain applies to everyone!”
The revelations about Seal’s posts on X come as questions have been raised about the IPC report.
The Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Defence Ministry body that oversees humanitarian affairs in the Gaza Strip, accused the IPC of basing its report on “biased data and superficial information originating from Hamas.”
Cogat also accused the IPC of ignoring recent policy changes meant to alleviate hunger in Gaza, instead choosing “to stick with incomplete and misleading information”.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry and COGAT both pointed to decreasing food prices in Gaza’s markets as evidence that there was not a severe shortage of food.
But as Israel ramps up its planned takeover of Gaza City, the report has made a huge global impact.
According to the IPC, Israel’s blockade on aid from early March to mid-May, followed by “critically low volumes through July” and “coupled with the collapse of local food production,” led to “extreme food shortages.”
The hunger monitor said that more than half a million people in Gaza faced catastrophic levels of hunger and many are at risk of dying from malnutrition-related causes.
This followed the IPC’s warning in July that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza but which stopped short of an official declaration of famine.
However, Mark Zlochin, an independent researcher and data analyst has written in the JC that the IPC “discarded half of the available data and misrepresented what the remainder actually showed.
"The key claim for declaring famine was that child malnutrition had surged from around 10 per cent in early July to 16 per cent later in the month, supposedly crossing the famine line.
“In reality, the IPC based its conclusion on only half of the July sample, covering about 7,500 children, which gave an average of roughly 16 per cent. The full dataset of more than 15,000 children showed rates closer to 12 per cent – well below the famine threshold.
“Even within the partial sample, the claim of a dramatic upward trend did not hold: the numbers remained flat across the month with no increase at all. By failing to use the complete data, the IPC created the illusion of both a breach and a surge that never occurred.”
The IPC said: “These issues must not distract from the most urgent matter: stopping the Famine, preventing its spread, and averting further loss of life and catastrophic suffering in the Gaza Strip. Immediate action is imperative. Lives depend on it.”
It also said: “Neutrality is a core principle of the IPC [...] In Gaza, the analysis was led by the IPC Global Support Unit working with a team of 50 IPC-trained experts from 19 organizations, representing diverse sectors and bringing contextual expertise. The analysis team followed the standard IPC global methodology, and the conclusions were reviewed and validated by the FRC, composed of independent and internationally-recognized famine experts.”
The JC approached Seal for comment.
To get more Israel news, click here to sign up for our free Israel Briefing newsletter.