Lemkin Institute: Statements on Genocide in Gaza

The Lemkin Institute has released three new statements on the genocide in Gaza this week. Two of them, "Four Facts about Israel's Genocide" and "We’re Glad to See You Use the G-Word, but Now You Must Act," address the recent shift in the language being used by politicians, NGOs, and scholars who have up until this point either justified Israel's genocide or remained silent about it. "Four Facts" seeks to correct the misunderstandings about the term genocide that the West's 20-month active genocide denial may have generated. "We're Glad to See You Use the G-Word" asks states to take real steps to stop the genocide, given that now really is their last chance before Netanyahu rids Palestine of all Palestinians.

The third statement, "We Sacrifice Law and Morality When We Allow Israel to Commit Genocide Without Repercussions," addresses the terribly sad murder of two young people in Washington, DC last night. The victims, Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, were in the prime of their lives and are not responsible for the genocide in Gaza. While we do not yet know the full nature of the gunman's motives, we do know that he told a security guard that his crime was "for Gaza" and shouted "Free Palestine" when he was arrested. We suspect that Israel, the Trump Administration, and other powerful states and non-state actors will use these murders as justification for the continued genocide against Palestinians, stronger suppression of the democratic rights to free speech and assembly, and, possibly, a war with Iran. But the murders justify none of these things. The murders call for an end to the terrible genocide that is dragging everyone down with it.

The Lemkin Institute has warned for over three years -- well before Hamas's terrible October 7 attack on Israel and Israel's genocidal response -- that the continual radicalization of Israeli politics and state goals will not only harm Palestinians but also place Israelis and Jews all over the world in increasing danger. As Israel begins to lose the unquestioning support of its allies due to its catastrophic cruelty towards Palestinian men, women, and children in Gaza and in the rest of historical Palestine, we must all work extra hard to protect Jewish life while we seek to stop the carnage in Gaza and create a world in which Palestinian life matters.

One of the reasons that genocide is such a terrible crime, apart from the cruelty and devastation it inflicts on its victims, is that it is ever-radicalizing. Genocide has no self-limiting mechanisms; left unchecked, it continues to grow, to spread its ideological assumptions, its tactics, its logic to ever more people, creating new theaters in which it will play itself out. This process can be tracked, but it is often unpredictable, drawing in new categories of peoples in new ways. Everywhere genocidal thinking spreads it destroys the prospect of peace and coexistence, wreaking havoc on humanity's tireless efforts to build stable and healthy civilizations.

We are deeply concerned that the monstrosity of Israel's genocide combined with the monstrosity that it remains utterly unchecked threatens to make monsters out of all of us and create a world in which human life is completely valueless.

We are calling for a coalition of states to immediately: - End all shipments of arms and military aid to Israel, which should have been done long ago.- Suspend diplomatic relationships with Israel and work to have Israel suspended from the United Nations as an apartheid state.- With the involvement and consent of Palestine, create a multilateral force to restore peace that has a mandate to fight back if fired upon.- Develop an ad-hoc international tribunal to try war criminals and genocidaires.

It is time for the world to step in and stop this genocide. Of course, Western leaders with influence over Israel should have stepped in long ago, on 8 October 2023, to coax the violent right-wing leaders of a traumatized nation in mourning away from the temptation to commit the mass murder form of genocide. But they did not, and we are all here now, dealing with the devastation.

Find all three statements here.