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lemkin institute for genocide prevention
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."
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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.
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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!'"
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