A leading genocide scholar and Holocaust historian has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in besieged Gaza.
Writing in The New York Times, Dr. Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, said the scale and intent of Israeli military attacks cannot be justified under international law.
By May 2024, after the large-scale destruction of Rafah and the forced displacement of more than a million Palestinians to the Mawasi coastal zone, he concluded that Israel’s actions bore the hallmarks of a systematic campaign to render Gaza uninhabitable.
"At that point, it appeared no longer possible to deny that the pattern of IDF (Israeli army) aggression was consistent with the statements denoting genocidal intent made by Israeli leaders," Bartov wrote.
Calls for genocide
He cited multiple public statements by Israeli political and military officials as evidence of intent.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the enemy would pay a "huge price" and called on Gaza residents to "leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere."
He also referenced the biblical story of Amalek — which is often interpreted as a call to wipe out an entire population — as well as promises to "turn Gaza into rubble."
Other officials used inflammatory language, including references to Palestinians as "human animals" and calls for "total annihilation."
One senior Israeli lawmaker, Nissim Vaturi, wrote that Israel’s task must be "erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth."
Facts on the ground
Bartov argued that such rhetoric, combined with Israel’s military attacks — systematic bombings, the targeting of civilian infrastructure, and the creation of conditions that make life in Gaza unviable — constitutes clear evidence of genocidal intent and execution.
"I believe the goal was — and remains today — to force the population to leave the Strip altogether or... to debilitate the enclave through bombings and severe deprivation... so that it is impossible for Palestinians in Gaza to maintain or reconstitute their existence as a group," he wrote.
Bartov described reaching this conclusion as painful and deeply personal.
"Having grown up in a Zionist home, lived the first half of my life in Israel, served in the IDF (Israeli army), and spent most of my career researching and writing on war crimes and the Holocaust, this was a painful conclusion to reach, and one that I resisted as long as I could," he said.
"But I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognise one when I see one."
Wide recognition of genocide
His warning comes as a growing number of genocide and international law scholars have reached similar conclusions.
Among them are Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, and organisations such as Amnesty International.
South Africa has brought a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
According to Bartov, Israel's actions now exceed even the boundaries of war, as the army is no longer fighting an organised military force but is instead engaged in "demolition and ethnic cleansing" — operations aimed at rendering Gaza uninhabitable.
He warned that the continued refusal by governments, institutions, and Holocaust scholars to acknowledge Israel's conduct risks undermining the entire post-Holocaust international legal framework.
"It is a threat to the very foundations of the moral order on which we all depend," he wrote.
