THE UN Genocide Convention, ratified by the US in 1988, requires nations to prevent and punish genocide.

Moreover, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the US’s official memorial to the Holocaust, teaches genocide prevention. It emphasises that heeding warning signs and taking early action can save lives.

Notably, on October 13, 2023, less than one week after the start of Israel’s intensive bombing campaign in Gaza, Israeli Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies Raz Segal wrote:

“Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is quite explicit, open, and unashamed....Israel’s goal is to destroy the Palestinians of Gaza. And those of us watching around the world are derelict in our responsibility to prevent them from doing so.”

And just a few days later, nearly 800 scholars and international lawyers working in the fields of conflict and genocide issued a public statement titled, “Scholars Warn of Potential Genocide in Gaza.” They cite the dehumanisation and mass displacement of Palestinians, statements by Israeli officials, as well as the high casualty rate and “obliteration” of neighbourhoods and families.

Airwars is a nonprofit watchdog organisation that investigates harm to civilians during armed conflict. In its study on the Israel-Gaza war titled Patterns of Harm Analysis, the organisation concludes:

“By almost every metric, the harm to civilians from the first month of the Israeli campaign in Gaza is incomparable with any 21st-century air campaign. It is by far the most intense, destructive, and fatal conflict for civilians that Airwars has ever documented.”

Finally, on December 9, over 55 scholars of the Holocaust, genocide and mass violence released a statement deploring the atrocities committed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as by Israeli forces, and warning of the danger of genocide in Gaza. Particular concern is expressed regarding statements by Israeli leaders holding all Palestinians in Gaza responsible for October 7. These scholars assert:

“Casting an entire civilian population as enemies marks the history of modern genocide, with the Armenian genocide (1915-1918) and the Rwanda genocide (1994) as well-known examples.”

In condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza, Jewish-American scholar Judith Butler explained:

“The Palestinians have been labelled as ungrievable. That is to say, they are not a group of people whose lives are being considered as worthy of value, of persisting, of flourishing in this world. If they are lost, it is not considered to be a true loss.”

It’s crucial to recognise that there is a duty to prevent genocide. In fact, the convention’s full name is the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”

Yet the US has repeatedly dismissed evidence of genocide in Gaza. College protesters have been deemed brainwashed and ignorant of history, and the charge of genocide against Israel has been called a blood libel.

Despite US denials, allegations of genocide have intensified. Human rights organisations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have published reports accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, and these organisations are not alone in reaching this determination.

Amos Goldberg, a Holocaust and genocide researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has also concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide. Goldberg asserts:

“What is happening in Gaza is genocide because the level and pace of indiscriminate killing, destruction, mass expulsions, displacement, famine, executions, the wiping out of cultural and religious institutions...and the sweeping dehumanisation of the Palestinians — create an overall picture of genocide, of a deliberate conscious crushing of Palestinian existence in Gaza.”

Goldberg explains that, historically, most perpetrators of genocide have claimed they were acting in self-defence.

Other prominent Israeli genocide scholars, such as Omer Bartov, Daniel Blatman, Segal and Shmuel Lederman, have also publicly concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Segal cites explicit statements of genocidal intent, mass killing of civilians, deliberately destroying life-sustaining conditions, and the systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure. According to Segal, “Can I name someone whose work I respect who does not think it is genocide? No, there is no counterargument that takes into account all the evidence.”

Significantly, a Dutch investigation published in May in the newspaper NRC interviewed seven internationally known genocide and Holocaust scholars from six countries, including Israel. All found Israel’s actions in Gaza to be acts of genocide. The scholars interviewed include:

• Martin Shaw, author of the book, “What is genocide?”

• Melanie O’Brien, president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars

• Dirk Moses, senior editor of the Journal of Genocide Research

Importantly, famine has now been declared in Gaza City, and Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has threatened to “open the gates of hell” on this region.

Credible evidence of genocide is being met with US denial, UN vetoes, and sanctions against investigators. When nations ignore the clear assessments of these scholars, they abandon both moral responsibility and international law. The cost of this silence is measured in human lives.

Terry Hansen is an opinion writer who has contributed multiple articles on Gaza, focusing on humanitarian issues, US policy, and Israel’s actions in the region.