SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
lemkin institute for genocide prevention
Anyone Telling You to Fear Your Trans Neighbors Is Lying to Hide Their Real Agenda
Mostly, they’re hoping you won’t notice the precedents they’re setting to take away your healthcare and invade your privacy.
Apr 04, 2026
It’s a distressing time to be a trans person just trying to mind your business.
This March, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention issued its third “red flag” warning about the risk of “anti-trans genocide” in the United States, warning about laws and policies designed to “criminalize” the entire trans community “based solely on its existence.”
In February, Kansas invalidated the IDs of all trans people in the state with a single day’s notice. Finally, just recently, the International Olympic Committee mandated that all persons competing in women’s events must submit to genetic screening—which will also ban all trans women and many intersex people from participating in Olympic sports.
As a trans person trying to walk my dog, pay my bills, and answer work emails in time to fold the laundry and make dinner, it’s profoundly stressful to say the least.
Dozens and dozens of peer-reviewed, scientifically valid studies in dozens of countries and contexts show that letting people make their own choices about how they live their own lives in their own bodies is very good for their well-being.
But it’s been this way for years. The tide of contemporary anti-trans legislation has grown from 2016’s famous (and failed) “bathroom bill” in North Carolina to a wave of speculative legislation funded by conservative billionaires creating division by stoking manufactured mass hysteria.
The numbers are staggering: a 668% increase in anti-trans legislation from 2021 to 2025, according to the Lemkin Institute. Since we all huddled down on our couches and started a sourdough hobby in 2020, the Institute says, we’ve had six consecutive record-breaking years in anti-trans bills introduced across the country.
But the horrors don’t stop in the legislatures.
A recent executive order banning trans people from the military calls trans people inherently dishonest and dishonorable. The US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals just ruled that states can legally compel trans adults like me to “appreciate [our] sex” by banning our access to gender-affirming healthcare. And when a Texan politician called billionaires a more dangerous 1% of the population than trans people, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s pastor said he hoped the man would be crucified.
For all the hate we’re getting these days, you’d think trans women were scooping up Olympic gold medals and firebombing suburban dog parks.
The reality is much less exciting, underwhelming even. We remain, by and large, humans with less money; less political power; and maybe more opinions on animation, philosophy, and colored hair dye than the average bear.
It’s estimated that there are less than 10 trans athletes of any gender in the entire NCAA. Only one openly trans woman has competed in the entire history of the Olympic games, and she didn’t place. In fact, the British Journal of Sports Medicine recently found no scientific evidence that trans women have a single competitive advantage over cisgender women in sports.
But dozens and dozens of peer-reviewed, scientifically valid studies in dozens of countries and contexts show that letting people make their own choices about how they live their own lives in their own bodies is very good for their well-being.
The American Medical Association, the largest association of physicians in the United States, just affirmed that hormone therapy, sex-reassignment surgeries, and other procedures that change a person’s physical sex characteristics are successful and medically necessary. These procedures have some of the lowest regret rates around: lower than hip replacements, lower than cosmetic surgeries, perhaps even lower than Harry Potter tattoos.
The people telling you to fear your trans neighbors are lying to your face and inventing a scary fantasy. Mostly, they’re hoping you won’t notice the precedents they’re setting to take away your healthcare, invade your privacy, and send you on a surprise trip to the DMV.
And if you’re a woman in sports, they’ll want your genetic data. I haven’t looked at a history book in awhile but I’m pretty sure that’s a red flag.
Keep ReadingShow Less
As ‘Loyal Agents of Nazis’ in GOP Murder Citizens, US Is at 'Turning Point,' Advocates Say
"Either the American people are able to wrest power from the current fascist leaders or those leaders will continue to radicalize, using violence and terror to dismantle democracy."
Jan 25, 2026
As hundreds of Minneapolis residents assembled in Whittier Park Saturday evening to demand once again that federal immigration agents leave Minnesota following the second fatal shooting of a legal observer in less than three weeks, one speaker demanded that the gathering must not simply be "another damn vigil."
"This is a turning point," said Edwin Torres DeSantiago of the Immigrant Defense Network.
He spoke to the crowd hours after several federal officers were filmed surrounding Alex Pretti, 37, after he attempted to help a woman one of them had pushed to the ground, and fatally shooting him.
Torres DeSantiago's words were echoed by the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, which did not mince words about the agents of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection who have for months roamed the streets of cities including Minneapolis, Chicago, and Los Angeles, arresting immigrants and US citizens and opening fire nearly two dozen times—killing at least six people including Pretti.
The federal agents recruited by the Trump administration with flyers imploring them to choose between their "homeland" and an "invasion," said the Lemkin Institute, "are loyal agents of Nazis and white supremacists within the Republican Party. They are behaving as enemies both of the Constitution and of the American people and they must be treated as such."
"The United States is at a crossroads: Either the American people are able to wrest power from the current fascist leaders or those leaders will continue to radicalize, using violence and terror to dismantle democracy and commit even greater mass atrocities," said the organization. "History is clear about this."
The warning came as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it would be investigating the shooting involving its own officers instead of the FBI. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said DHS representatives had blocked them from accessing the crime scene late Saturday, even though officials had obtained a judicial search warrant.
The bureau joined the Hennepin County Attorney's Office in filing a lawsuit to prevent the "destruction of evidence" by DHS.
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called on Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to order the city's police department to "take control of the scene of the latest deadly ICE shooting, launch an independent criminal probe, and protect peaceful protesters at the scene from ICE violence."
"Calling for ICE to leave is not enough. This shooting happened on a city street in the jurisdiction of the Minneapolis law enforcement and they must lead an independent investigation into what appears to be another horrific, unnecessary execution of a Minneapolis resident," said Mitchell. "ICE should immediately end its deadly and disastrous siege of Minnesota and turn over all evidence and information about this shooting and the prior shooting of Renee Good to local authorities."
Meanwhile, Trump administration officials continued pushing a narrative which was contradicted by numerous videos of the shooting and the moments leading up to it, claiming Pretti had "approached" federal agents with a gun. Footage shows Pretti holding only a phone, not a firearm, and one of agents involved in wrestling him to the ground after he was pepper-sprayed reaches into the scuffle empty-handed and then pulls out a gun before the multiple shots were fired.
Third angle of today’s shooting of a 37-year-old male by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, clearly shows one of the agents running away from the scuffle before the shooting carrying the victim's handgun, a Sig P320. pic.twitter.com/97atyCozQP
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 24, 2026
Pretti was armed with a gun that he was carrying lawfully and had a permit for, local authorities said.
Despite the video evidence, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem repeated almost verbatim the claim she made earlier this month when an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good in another incident that did not match the administration's description in footage taken by bystanders: "Fearing for his life and the lives of his fellow officers around him, an agent fired defensive shots."
Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump's homeland security adviser and deputy chief of staff, said without any evidence soon after the shooting that Pretti was a "domestic terrorist" who "tried to assassinate federal law enforcement," and Trump called Pretti a "gunman."
The shooting came days after seven Democrats in the US House joined Republicans in passing a funding bill for DHS without securing restrictions on ICE, despite growing national outrage over federal immigration agents' operations and Trump's mass deportation agenda.
The bill still needs to go through the Senate and is one of several funding measures that need to pass by January 30 to keep the government open.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement after Pretti was killed that “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included."
"What's happening in Minnesota is appalling—and unacceptable in any American city," said Schumer. "Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans' refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE."
Democratic senators who had been expected to support the $64.4 billion in DHS funding, which includes $10 billion for ICE, said after the shooting that they would not do so.
"I cannot and will not vote to fund DHS while this administration continues these violent federal takeovers of our cities," said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).
Keep ReadingShow Less
Lemkin Institute Rebukes Clinton for Blaming Youth Outrage Over Gaza Genocide on TikTok
"Young people in the US are not stupid or gullible. They simply reject genocide—something the secretary might consider."
Dec 10, 2025
The world's leading genocide prevention group this week accused former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of "outright genocide denial" for comments last week attributing young Americans' opposition to Israel's US-backed genocide in Gaza on social media.
Speaking last week at the Israel Hayom Summit in New York, Clinton asserted that young people's support for Palestine stems from the fact that they are "getting their information from social media, particularly TikTok," adding that many younger Jewish Americans “don’t know the history and don’t understand" the Israel-Palestine issue.
On Monday, the Philadelphia-based Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security—named for Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer and Holocaust survivor who coined the term genocide—published a statement arguing that "Secretary Clinton’s framing is not at all an accurate reflection of why Americans are growing more critical of Israel."
"Young Americans of all political stripes have not fallen prey to propaganda, though that is always a legitimate concern," the institute said. "Rather, they have consumed two years of videos depicting Israel’s genocide against Palestinians that have been uploaded by Palestinian journalists, ordinary people trying to survive in Gaza, [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers, and ordinary Israelis themselves."
"There has been no convincing refutation of the sheer amount of raw evidence of genocide coming out of Palestine," the institute contended. "Young people in the US are not stupid or gullible. They simply reject genocide—something the secretary might consider doing as well."
Wow: Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (named for Holocaust survivor Raphael Lemkin, who coined term "genocide") calls Clinton's remarks "genocide denial.""Young people in the US are not stupid or gullible. They simply reject genocide – something the Secretary might consider doing as well."
[image or embed]
— Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social) December 9, 2025 at 11:15 AM
LIGP continued:
Secretary Clinton appears not to be bothered by the reality of genocidal violence—in fact, she did not mention anything about it. Her concern is, rather, in her words, “the narrative”—the fact that these crimes are no longer hidden and are now being livestreamed and documented in real time, making it harder for her and others to control it. TikTok cannot be blamed for the fact that many members of Gen Z understand that Israel is committing genocide, since so many other people, including those who never look at TikTok, also hold that view. Apart from the Lemkin Institute, the vast majority of large, mainstream human rights organizations, the [United Nations], and many scholars as well as international legal bodies have denounced Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide. Many carefully researched reports by international organizations have established that Israel’s crimes meet the international legal threshold for genocide. We encourage the former secretary to read them.
"The Lemkin Institute continues to support students and young people worldwide for having the courage to stand up for their convictions, to speak truth to power, and to fight against the scourge of genocide in Palestine and elsewhere," LIGP added. "Secretary Clinton’s remarks are not only inaccurate—they are also a shameful example of the lengths to which people complicit in genocide will go to to deny its existence."
The institute's rebuke of Clinton's comments came as the International Court of Justice in The Hague adjudicates a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa and supported by around two dozen nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—who ordered the "complete siege" of Gaza that fueled famine and disease—are also wanted by the International Criminal Court, also located in the The Hague, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder and forced starvation.
Lemkin's denunciation also comes amid a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, a truce Israeli forces have broken more than 500 times, according to officials in the Palestinian exclave. Israeli officials say Palestinian resistance fighters have violated the ceasefire more than 30 times.
Since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, Israel's annihilation and siege of Gaza have left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and around 2 million more forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened. Israeli military data suggests that of the the more than 70,000 Palestinian deaths, over 8 in 10 were civilians.
Through it all, the United States has backed Israel with more than $21 billion worth of weaponry and diplomatic support including repeatedly vetoing United Nations Security Council ceasefire resolutions.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention Backs Gaza-Bound Global Sumud Flotilla
"If Israel attacks or obstructs the flotilla, which we expect it will, it will only strengthen the case that it is committing genocide."
Sep 08, 2025
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security said Monday that it "stands in firm solidarity with all of the brave people aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, the international fleet of more than 50 boats that is headed toward Gaza to break the Israeli siege and deliver urgent humanitarian aid."
The US-based institute, named for the scholar who coined the term genocide after the Holocaust, has repeatedly spoken out against the Israeli assault on Gaza since October 2023, making clear that "Israel is committing genocide in Gaza" and "the US is complicit in genocide."
Over the past 23 months, Israeli forces have slaughtered more than 64,000 Palestinians in the strip, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel has also severely restricted the flow of humanitarian aid, causing a famine that has killed nearly 400 people, including 140 children.
After a storm delay, the new flotilla—which uses the Arabic word for "perseverance" or "resilience"—departed Barcelona last week, with prominent passengers including the Spanish city's former mayor, Ada Colau, along with Irish actor Liam Cunningham, Portuguese politician Mariana Mortágua, American actress Susan Sarandon, and Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela, joined the flotilla in Tunisia.
"Their courage is an act of conscience and civil resistance against injustice, carried out in the face of global institutional indifference and inaction. To the volunteers of the flotilla: You carry the conscience of the world. Your determination exposes the cowardice of governments," the Lemkin Institute said.
"Yet, let us be very clear: This mission should never have been necessary," the institute argued. "Members of civil society should never have to risk their lives to deliver what states and the international community have the legal and moral duty to guarantee: safety, humanitarian assistance, and protection from genocide."
"The very existence of this flotilla, with its delegations from more than 44 countries, including coalitions such as the Global Movement to Gaza (GMG) and the Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, is a testament to the international failure," the group continued. "It is the consequence of state inaction, complicity, and silence in the face of the ongoing Israeli genocide against Palestinians."
The institute highlighted that "this is not the first flotilla," pointing to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in June, and how Israel treated its members—particularly American Amazon labor organizer Chris Smalls, who was the only Black person on the Handala and was beaten by Israeli forces.
"Israel must not attack, arrest, or obstruct the Global Sumud Flotilla in any way. The participants must be allowed safe passage to Gaza and free delivery of urgently needed aid. Gaza needs food now. Gaza needs medicine now," the institute stressed. "If Israel attacks or obstructs the flotilla, which we expect it will, it will only strengthen the case that it is committing genocide."
Israel faces an ongoing South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over their country's conduct in Gaza. Netanyahu has been accused of dragging out the war to avoid a corruption trial in Israel.
"If Israel detains flotilla members as terrorists, as it has threatened to do, it will only further expose to the outside world the illegal detention and torture of Palestinians that it has been engaging in for decades," the Lemkin Institute said. "The 'international community' of elites may be easy to bully into silence, as we have seen. The global anti-genocide movement, on the other hand, will never be silenced."
"We call on all governments to ensure the safe passage of the flotilla and to protect their citizens aboard this humanitarian mission from arbitrary detention," the group concluded. "Above all, we urge all governments to protect Palestinian lives in Gaza, in the West Bank, and in East Jerusalem, in accordance with their obligations under the Genocide Convention."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump Call for Evacuation of Tehran—A City of 10 Million—Denounced as 'Terroristic' Threat
"It's like telling the entire country of Sweden to evacuate," said one scholar.
Jun 17, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump's social media post urging residents of Tehran to evacuate "immediately"—a call shared online at 2:00 am local time—intensified chaos in the densely populated Iranian capital amid Israel's deadly bombing campaign.
"Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!" Trump wrote on his social media platform as Israel's war on Iran entered its fifth day.
Video footage that emerged in the wake of Trump's post showed a highway full of traffic as Iranians attempted to flee Israel's onslaught, which has killed or injured more than a thousand people so far. There have also been reports of long lines at gas stations, some of which have been forced to close after running out of fuel.
"They should've done the deal." President Donald Trump called for the evacuation of Iran's capital of Tehran after Israeli attacks on the country sent the region into conflict and uncertainty. pic.twitter.com/sjnFRVEcFN
— USA TODAY Politics (@usatodayDC) June 17, 2025
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention was among those condemning Trump's evacuation call for Tehran, denouncing it as a "terroristic" social media threat "unbecoming of a head of state." Tehran is home to around 10 million people, roughly equal to the population size of Israel.
"President Trump should be ashamed for being the lapdog of genocidaire and petty dictator Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, and for following in the obsequious footsteps of former U.S. President Joe Biden," the Lemkin Institute said in a statement. "We call on President Trump to deescalate the situation immediately by pulling the Israeli PM back from this war of aggression and by pursuing a robust and truly independent U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East."
Assal Rad, a Middle East scholar and fellow at Arab Center Washington DC, asked, "Where are 10,000,000 people supposed to evacuate to?"
"It's like telling the entire country of Sweden to evacuate," Rad wrote on social media. "Even if that was possible and they all had places to go, the traffic is not moving and gas is scarce. Even if they could all get out, what are they coming back to?"
Following his social media post, Trump signed a joint statement with other Group of Seven leaders calling for a "resolution of the Iranian crisis" that "leads to a broader deescalaton of hostilities in the Middle East, including a cease-fire in Gaza."
The Washington Post reported that Trump initially declined to sign the G7 statement "but reversed his position following discussions with other leaders in the group and changes to the initial draft."
An unnamed U.S. official would not tell the Post what specific changes secured Trump's backing, but the final "statement omitted language that called for both Iran and Israel 'to show restraint,' which appeared in an earlier draft of the agreement."
Trump left the G7 summit in Canada early, soon after calling for the evacuation of Tehran. The National Iranian American Council expressed hope that the president's evacuation message "does not mean an unauthorized U.S. entry into the war, or that he has knowledge of further depraved attacks from Israel."
Trump is planning to hold a meeting on Iran in the White House Situation Room with his national security team on Tuesday, Axios reported, as congressional opposition to deeper U.S. involvement in the war grows.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Lemkin Institute Issues 'Red Flag Alert for Genocide' After Musk's Nazi Salutes
"Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats," the group said. "The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."
Jan 21, 2025
A group named after the Polish-born lawyer of Jewish descent who coined the term genocide issued a "red flag alert" for the United States on Monday after billionaire Elon Musk—a top ally of President Donald Trump—twice flashed what was widely seen as a Nazi salute during a post-inauguration event.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Studies and Prevention said that "Musk's act is a frightening signal of things to come" and rejected the notion that the billionaire's gestures were unintentional.
"In light of Musk's important influence on the new administration," the group said in a statement, "the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for genocide in the United States."
The Lemkin Institute urged Americans to "respond with critical thinking" to any suggestion that Musk's salutes were merely awkward or odd-looking—but ultimately benign—expressions of enthusiasm.
"Is it possible that any person—especially in South Africa (where support for Nazism was very strong) or the USA (where the History Channel has introduced almost all but the youngest generations to the Nazi salute)—is unaware of this salute or what it means?" the group asked. "It is almost impossible that this was an unfortunate mistake. Finally, can we really believe that someone who is so often in the public eye would risk an arm gesture—twice—that looks almost exactly like the Nazi salute while he is supposedly celebrating Donald Trump's election to president? We strongly believe that Elon Musk's gesture was intentional. We will be happy to be proven wrong."
"Musk's Hitler salute cannot and must not be swept under the rug. The U.S. press, cowed as it has been under President Biden, cannot be trusted to cover the new president's administration with any backbone or honesty. It is up to the American people to defend the Constitution and this country's core values against all threats," the organization continued. "Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats. The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."
Musk's salutes drew widespread alarm, including from public officials in Europe—where Musk has attempted to boost far-right parties.
"Such a gesture, given his already known proximity to right-wing populists in the fascist tradition, must worry every democrat," German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote in response.
Far-right extremists, for their part, celebrated Musk's gestures, which they appear to have had no trouble interpreting.
As Rolling Stone reported, "The Proud Boys Ohio chapter posted a clip of the Musk video to its Telegram channel with the text, 'Hail Trump!'"
Keep ReadingShow Less
Genocide Prevention Group Says 'Israel Must Be Stopped Now'
"Even if there were legitimate doubts about Israel's genocide, there is no doubt that Israel is committing atrocity crimes of the most barbaric kind," the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention said.
May 28, 2024
A U.S.-based group dedicated to preventing genocide blasted what it called "the cynical lies and propaganda" from Israeli and U.S. leaders who deny that Israel's obliteration of Gaza is genocidal, while imploring humanity to stop the slaughter.
In a statement published Monday on social media, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (LIGP) argued that "one can have different views about the definition of genocide, but one may not use definitional disputes to deny genocide."
"If a genocide may be occurring, every nation is compelled by customary law to try to stop it," asserted the Philadelphia-based group named after Raphael Lemkin, the 20th-century Polish lawyer who is credited with coining the word genocide in the 1940s.
"Let us be clear: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The U.S. is complicit in genocide," LIGP said. "These are not political statements. They are statements that are made from knowledge and experience."
"Nevertheless, you do not need a Ph.D. , a law degree, or X-ray vision to see the genocidal dimensions of Israel's carnage in Gaza. It is clear in the behavior of the state and its military, on full display in yesterday's horrific bombardment of a Rafah camp," the group added, referring to the attack on a refugee encampment in the southern city's Tal al-Sultan neighborhood that killed at least 45 people and wounded hundreds of others, including many women and children.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the strike a "tragic mistake." Two days later, at least 21 more Palestinians were killed in another Israel Defense Forces attack on a different refugee camp in southern Gaza.
LIGP said that "even if there were legitimate doubts about Israel's genocide, there is no doubt that Israel is committing atrocity crimes of the most barbaric kind."
"Israel must be stopped," the group stressed. "Israel must be stopped now."
LIGP continued:
We are disgusted by Western leaders, especially in the USA, Germany, and the U.K. They have demonstrated not only that they don't care one bit about genocide prevention and human rights, but also that they are willing to allow an ally to commit atrocity crimes while they offer material and diplomatic support. It is reprehensible and the individuals involved in this gaslighting campaign should be deeply ashamed. They should also be put on trial.
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan last week formally applied for warrants to arrest Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders for alleged crimes including extermination committed on and after October 7.
Israeli and U.S. leaders deny there is genocide in Gaza. U.S. President Joe Biden said in October that he had "no confidence" in Palestinian health officials' Gaza casualty reports—figures deemed reliable by United Nations agencies, human rights groups, international and Israeli mainstream media, and even the U.S. State Department.
Biden, who early in the war declared his "unwavering" support for Israel, has approved billions of dollars of new U.S. military aid for the key Middle Eastern ally. His administration has repeatedly sidestepped Congress to expedite weapons transfers to Israel. The U.S. has also provided diplomatic cover for Netanyahu's far-right government by vetoing several United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolutions.
The International Court of Justice is currently determining whether Israel is committing genocide, as alleged by South Africa and over 30 countries and regional blocs supporting the case. The ICJ recently ordered Israel to immediately halt its invasion of Rafah. Israel has ignored the legally binding order, prompting calls for punitive action including sanctions.
According to Palestinian officials and international human rights defenders, at least 36,096 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed during Israel's 235-day assault on Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack that left more than 1,100 people dead and over 240 others taken prisoner. At least 81,136 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli bombs and bullets. Upward of 11,000 other Gazans are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of bombed-out buildings.
Meanwhile, famine in the north and widespread starvation throughout Gaza have been exacerbated by Israel's blockade of the besieged coastal enclave, where around 90% of the population have been forcibly displaced.
"Humanity has a choice: Either we decide that our children can all be killed whenever a superior force alleges that 'terrorists' are among us, or we decide that under no circumstances will we allow these superior forces to lay waste to our world any longer," LIGP said. "We each must choose and act accordingly. The watershed moment is now."
At least hundreds of legal and human rights experts around the world—including Israelis—accuse Israel of genocide. In March, the United Nations Human Rights Council published a draft report that found "reasonable grounds to believe" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
On Sunday, Human Rights Watch co-founder Aryeh Neier—a Jewish Holocaust survivor—reiterated his earlier assertion that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. In an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Neier explained how his assessment of Israel's conduct has evolved during the war.
"I thought Israel had a right to retaliate against Hamas, and I thought Israel had a right to try to incapacitate Hamas so that it would never be able to do anything like that again," Neier said. "But I was disturbed by some of the actions of Israel, by the use of very large weapons, 2,000-pound bombs, which are utterly inappropriate in a crowded urban area."
Is Israel committing humanitarian crimes in Gaza? The Israeli gov’t strenuously denies it.
Aryeh Neier, a giant in the world of human rights who escaped Nazi Germany and later cofounder Human Rights Watch, says the answer is yes.
Our conversation from today’s GPS: pic.twitter.com/dQC20WDywO
— Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) May 26, 2024
Neier also condemned Israeli and U.S. officials' efforts to equate criticism of Israel's policies and practices with antisemitism.
"Antisemitism has been a great scourge," he said, "but it doesn't insulate the Israeli government from being held to the same standards as other governments have to be held to around the world."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Genocide Prevention Group Issues 'Urgent SOS Warning' as Israel Takes Aim at Rafah
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention said that if U.S. President Joe Biden "fails to act on his own words" to prevent genocide in Gaza, "his betrayal of humanity will be remembered by the world forever."
Apr 02, 2024
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, an organization named after the Polish lawyer who
coined the term genocide, issued what it called an "urgent SOS warning" on Tuesday for Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than half of the enclave's population is currently sheltering with nowhere else to go.
The group
said Israel's flurry of airstrikes on Rafah last week "could be the opening salvo to Israel's promised ground invasion of the town, which is home to the critical crossing to Egypt." Reuters reported that one of the Israeli strikes killed 11 members of a single family.
"This bombing is a genocidal act conducted by Israel against a trapped civilian population," the Lemkin Institute said.
The @LemkinInstitute is issuing an urgent SOS warning for the imminent genocide of Palestinians in #Rafah. On Wednesday, 27 March, Israel launched several bombing strikes on the city where nearly 1.4 million people are sheltering. These attacks could be the opening salvo to… pic.twitter.com/QpKEB8s9xm
— Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (@LemkinInstitute) April 2, 2024
The group's statement came after U.S. and Israeli officials met virtually on Monday to discuss the Biden administration's proposed "alternatives" to a large-scale ground invasion of Rafah, which is currently home to more than 1.5 million people—most of them displaced from other parts of the enclave.
The meeting came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahucanceled earlier plans for bilateral Rafah talks following the U.S. decision last week not to veto a cease-fire resolution at the United Nations Security Council.
Instead of launching a full-scale ground assault on the city, the Biden White House pushed Israel during the meeting "to take more targeted actions to kill or capture Hamas leaders while limiting civilian impacts," according to The Associated Press.
The White House said in a statement following Monday's virtual meeting that "the two sides over the course of two hours had a constructive engagement on Rafah."
"They agreed that they share the objective to see Hamas defeated in Rafah," the statement reads. "The U.S. side expressed its concerns with various courses of action in Rafah. The Israeli side agreed to take these concerns into account and to have follow-up discussions between experts."
In its statement on Tuesday, the Lemkin Institute noted that U.S. President Joe Biden has described an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah as a "red line" for his administration. Politico reported last month that Biden would "consider" placing conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel if it goes ahead with an invasion of Rafah.
Echoing a growing number of U.S. lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, the Lemkin Institute urged Biden to comply with U.S. laws prohibiting weapons transfers to countries violating human rights and obstructing the delivery of American humanitarian aid—both of which Israel has done repeatedly since October.
"If the U.S. president fails to act on his own words to prevent the further genocide of the people of Gaza and to behave in accordance with the rules-based international order he purports to prize," said the Lemkin Institute, "his betrayal of humanity will be remembered by the world forever."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Genocide Experts Say Israeli Legal Arguments 'Ring Hollow' at ICJ
"The court only needs to look at the statements in South Africa's submission—with the ranking and authority of those making them—and ask whether they plausibly reach the level of intent required for genocide," said one expert on state crime.
Jan 12, 2024
Faced with a detailed documentation of statements made by top-level Israeli officials about their intent to "destroy" Gaza residents and "flatten" the enclave, legal experts observed that attorneys representing Israel on Friday at the International Court of Justice appeared to simply ignore the mounting evidence that the government is committing a genocide.
Thomas MacManus, a state crime lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, said the ICJ, which has held two hearings this week regarding South Africa's lawsuit accusing Israel of genocidal violence and intent in Gaza since it began its bombardment in October, likely noticed a "massive disconnect" between Israel's claim that it is trying to protect civilian lives with the reality on the ground.
The hearing on Friday was underway as Al Jazeera reported that nine Palestinians, including children and at least one infant, were killed in an Israeli strike on a home in Rafah—just a few of the 23,708 who have been confirmed dead in Israel's assault.
Yet Malcolm Shaw, a British professor of international law who helped defend Israel, focused his remarks on the country's claim that it goes to great lengths to protect civilians and asserted that the numerous statements of genocidal intent catalogued by South Africa were taken out of context.
"I think the court will find it very difficult to add these two things," MacManus told Al Jazeera, referring to the statements compiled by South Africa and Shaw's claim that Israel has the "most moral army in the world" and "does everything to avoid harming the uninvolved."
"The court only needs to look at the statements in South Africa's submission—with the ranking and authority of those making them—and ask whether they plausibly reach the level of intent required for genocide," said MacManus. "I think the court will have to do that."
Independent journalist Sam Husseini noted that Taj Becker, legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, opened his remarks with a reference to Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who coined the term "genocide" in the 1940s and helped establish it as an international crime.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has for three months called on the International Criminal Court to indict Israeli Prime Minister for genocidal acts, and said Friday that Becker's words rang "hollow" considering "the overwhelming evidence" documented by South Africa.
South Africa's 84-page complaint to the ICJ includes direct quotes from officials including Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who said "an entire nation," not just Hamas, was responsible for the group's attack on southern Israel on October 7, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said the Israel Defense Forces "will eliminate everything" in Gaza.
Yet as Step Vaessen of Al Jazeera reported, "the argument by Israel was that [genocidal intent] was clearly not government policy."
On Democracy Now!, Center for Constitutional Rights staff attorney Diala Shamas pointed out that the Israeli defense team also focused largely on the question of whether the ICJ, the top judicial body of the United Nations, has the authority to rule on South Africa's case and to grant the country's request for an binding injunction that would force Israel to stop its bombardment.
Israel's arguments, said Shamas, boiled down to, "'You can't be here and you can't do anything about it, and... Everything we do is self-defense [against Hamas.]'"
The defense amounted to "a complete deflection, never at any point addressing the incredibly powerful arguments laid out yesterday at a hearing for three hours by the South Africa legal team," added Shamas.
Ammar Hijazi, a Palestinian Foreign Ministry official, told reporters outside the court that Israel was not "able to provide any solid arguments on the basis of fact and law."
"What Israel has provided today are many of the already debunked lies," said Hijazi, noting that the legal team repeated false claims that Hamas has used hospitals in Gaza as military bases, making them legitimate targets for Israel. "We think that what the Israeli team today has [provided] is the exact thing that South Africa came to the court for—and that is, nothing at all justifies genocide."
Keep ReadingShow Less
See More
Most Popular
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy