International genocide scholars accuse Israel of ‘crimes against humanity’ in Gaza

The academic group did refer to Hamas' October 7 attack, which it called "international crimes,” but did not call upon the terror organisation to release its remaining hostages.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has denounced the August 31 resolution as "an embarrassment to the legal profession and to any academic standard".

"It is entirely based on Hamas’s campaign of lies and the laundering of those lies by others," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein. "The IAGS did not do the most basic task in research, which is to verify the information."

"Above all, the IAGS has set a historic precedent—for the first time, 'Genocide Scholars' accuse the very victim of genocide—despite Hamas’s attempted genocide against the Jewish people, murdering 1,200 people, raping women, burning families alive, and declaring its goal of killing every Jew. Disgraceful," said Marmorstein.

IAGS member Sara Brown, an expert on the Rwanda genocide who also serves as regional director of the American Jewish Committee in San Diego, sharply criticised the resolution and the process by which it was passed.

"Anyone who considers themself a genocide scholar should feel embarrassed by this vote," she posted to X.

"I have been a member of the IAGS for over a decade and can confirm the process was a disaster from start to finish. Those of us against the resolution tried to submit our concerns for discussion but were blocked by the leadership," she claimed.

She also cast doubt on the majority for the measure. Reuters reported that resolution was backed by 86 per cent of IAGS members, but Brown claimed only 129 of 500, or 25 per cent, of members did so, thanks to a low turnout. 

Members had been promised a virtual town hall, which is typical for controversial resolutions, but the association president reversed that promise, Brown alleged.

"The association has also refused to disclose who the authors of the resolution were," she went on.

"This resolution does real harm by recklessly bandying the term 'genocide' to describe this war and gives fodder to the people who will read this resolution and leverage it to justify hurting Jews.

"This resolution is incorrect in its assessment of Israel’s conduct in Gaza. It includes many unsubstantiated claims, is poorly cited (using deeply biased, questionable sources), and perpetuates an intentionally distorted analyses of the Israel-Hamas War.”

Sources cited by the resolution include several individuals and organisations who have long faced allegations of anti-Israel bias, including Amnesty International and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who was recently sanctioned by the US government over her alleged bias.

The IAGS was founded in 1994 and describes its purpose as gathering individuals from a wide variety of disciplines with the aim of preventing genocide.