Genocide is taking place in Gaza and Europe is duty bound to stop it, Israeli scholar says

Voices describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide are rising: an increasing number of politicians, rights-defenders, historians and legal experts say there is a clear will on the part of the Jewish state to destroy the Palestinians as a group and render life in Gaza impossible.

The accusations have been growing since South Africa launched a case at the UN’s top court of justice in December 2023 alleging Israel is committing genocide, an accusation Israel rejected as "baseless".

Euronews spoke to Omer Bartov, Dean’s Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, an Ivy League US institution, who argues that what is unfolding in Gaza amounts to genocide.

Separately, we sought the expert legal opinion of Stefan Talmon, an international law professor at the University of Bonn and currently a visiting research fellow at Oxford University, who contends there is no genocide. You can read Talmon’s interview here.

Proving genocidal intent

Bartov, a genocide and Holocaust scholar, first described Israel’s response to the 7 October terrorist attacks by Hamas as “disproportionate” and even constituting “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

However, by May 2024 he changed his evaluation of Israel’s military campaign, labelling it genocide, as he believes there is mounting evidence showing intent behind Israel's actions.

Back then, the Israeli army had ordered Palestinians out of Rafah, in the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, and moved them to Mawasi – a coastal area with almost no shelter. The army proceeded to flatten Rafah.

“Statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government constitute proof of their intent to destroy the Palestinians and to make Gaza uninhabitable,” Bartov told Euronews.

Israeli officials have, for example, referred to Palestinians as “human animals,” also saying they would reduce Gaza to “rubble”.

As per the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide can be established when there is an “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

Prosecuting those responsible for genocide remains a complicated and complex matter, with cases in front of international courts taking as long as 14 years, as was the case in verdicts on the Bosnian genocide in Srebrenica.

While some experts see genocide as "crime of all crimes", others argue that genocide is a legal category that should not be observed as more important than war crimes or crimes against humanity, cautioning against prolonged court cases in pursuit of justice.

To prove a genocide, you also have to show that the intent is being implemented and that there are no other motives than wanting to destroy the group, Bartov explained.

He further pointed to systematic Israeli military operations aimed at demolishing “hospitals, mosques, museums and the goal is then to force the population to leave,” despite the fact that “people won’t and can’t leave and have no place to go to.”

Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations of conducting a genocidal campaign, stating its operation is solely geared towards disempowering and eradicating Hamas. Also, Israel has stated it never intentionally targeted civilians, in turn accusing Hamas of using them as human shields.

What distinguishes Israel’s operation in Gaza from ethnic cleansing and confirms the will to destroy Palestinians, according to Bartov, is that “you make it impossible for that group to reconstitute itself and it is section D of the Genocide Convention, it’s about imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”

He points to a recent 65-page report by Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights that says Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide.

The report documents the staggering number of miscarriages among Gazan women, the number of children who are born underweight or premature and maternal mortality amid famine due to lack of healthcare.

Bartov believes Israel's operation in Gaza is set to go on, not to finish Hamas, which it is still fighting almost two years into the war, but to empty Gaza of Palestinians, as Israel no longer accepts the idea of a Palestinian state.

Section A of the same convention says killing members of the group with the overall intent to destroy it also constitutes genocide. Section B mentions causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. Bartov says both apply in the case of Israel’s operation in Gaza.

“That is clear, we are talking about between 60,000 and 100,000 dead,” said Bartov, also mentioning 140,000 wounded, the chronically ill who died because hospitals no longer function, and Palestinians debilitated by hunger. 

Bartov rejects the argument that the number of casualties released by the Hamas-controlled health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, may be inaccurate or, as Israel claims, grossly exaggerated.

He, like the Israeli NGO B’Tselem, which also labels Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide, believes the Hamas figures are “reliable”, “well documented” and even “conservative”, as thousands of bodies are still trapped under the rubble.

“Let the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) provide its own figures, they should allow the foreign press in, the burden of proof is on the IDF,” Bartov insisted, adding that the number of victims actually does not matter to prove genocide.

“The convention is about killing people and members of the group, it is not about killing all members of the group," he emphasised.

Easing humanitarian crisis 'irrelevant' to genocide accusation

Past ceasefires agreed to by Israel and the recent easing of the food blockade amid reports of starvation in Gaza do not change Bartov’s genocide accusation.

The ceasefires were imposed on Israel, he argues instead.

“The last ceasefire was imposed by President Trump as he came in, and in March, Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire, within a few minutes it killed a few hundred," he explained. “This is has nothing to do with the main intent (of genocide) ... it is not at all something that is done willingly."

Bartov claims that the Israeli government and Netanyahu openly tell the Israeli public that they are agreeing to “the so-called humanitarian pause”, notably under pressure from Trump, because “these are measures that will make it possible for Israel to continue its operations.”

In Gaza, Palestinians continue to be killed in the meantime, he says. 

Most Israelis 'in denial' of what is happening in Gaza

When they released their reports on Monday, Israeli NGOs B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights also issued a common appeal, calling on “Israelis and the international community to take immediate action to stop the genocide, using all legal tools available under international law.”

We put the question of Israel’s public opinion to Bartov, himself an Israeli citizen who served in the army.

"Of course they are aware, you cannot not be aware, but most Israelis don’t want to know," he said.

“Yesterday, there was an extraordinary report on Kan 11, the public TV, which also showed for the first time some images of starving children in Gaza but then said all this is fake news and showed footage of people selling fruits and vegetables at a market in Gaza.” 

Euronews verified the Kan 11 footage but also found that Israeli media claim that some of the photos depicting starving Palestinian children were reportedly manipulated. 

US and Europe 'duty-bound' to stop war in Gaza

To Bartov, it is important to recognise what Israel is doing in Gaza as genocide “because all signatory states of the Genocide Convention include all the European countries and the United States (which) are duty bound to do something” -- to prevent, stop and punish those responsible.

Instead, according to him, the US and Europe remain “complicit” in what is happening in Gaza.

“In the case of Germany it’s especially appalling not only because it is the major European power, the major supplier (of weapons) to Israel, but also because it does it in the name of the Holocaust (...) the Staatraison.”

Germany, he says, in feeling responsible for the Holocaust, should prevent crimes against humanity and genocide but not protect a country “that is the successor state of the Holocaust while it is itself carrying out a genocide."

"That is a complete distortion of the lessons of World War II, Nazism and the Holocaust," Bartov argued.

Fear of mounting antisemitism

While Bartov says urgent action is needed to stop the violence in Gaza, one of the long-term repercussions, he fears, is that “Israel will become a pariah state (...) if it is allowed to get away with it."

"If one has an interest in protecting Israel, helping it become a decent place, it has to impose measures on it now that would stop not only the killing of Palestinians but also the rapid erosion of democracy,” he implored.

Bartov also expressed further concerns about the effect of Israel being a pariah state on Jewish communities around the world, which he says would be “severe,” pointing to the rise of antisemitism.

Bartov, who focused a great deal of his research on Nazi crimes, also deplores that institutions set up to commemorate the Holocaust, be they memorial centres or museums, have been silent on Gaza.

Their mandate is not only to remind the public of the horrors of the Holocaust but also to prevent future atrocities by promoting education and remembrance.

Their failure to speak up, he says, will dent their credibility. “They will no longer be able to present themselves as anything but institutions that are only concerned with what could be done to the Jews by the Nazis. Anything else is not their business.” 

Could Hamas' 7 October attacks be labelled genocide?

Asked whether the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas on 7 October 2023, that left close to 1,200 Israelis dead, could also be qualified as genocide, Bartov says: “obviously, it was a war crime. Obviously, it was a crime against humanity because of the large numbers of civilians killed."

"One would need to adjudicate that but it could be, if it is connected to the Hamas charter of the late 1980s which is an antisemitic, genocidal document, it could be seen as genocidal act.”

“I'm a little sceptical about that, but certainly I think one could make that argument. I'm sceptical because Hamas actually issued different documents later," Bartov concluded.