Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, new academic report finds
Middletown, Connecticut - The University Network for Human Rights on Wednesday submitted a new report to the UN detailing Israel's genocidal acts in the Gaza Strip.
The 105-page report was conducted with independent legal experts at the International Human Rights Clinic at Boston University School of Law, the International Human Rights Clinic at Cornell Law School, the Center for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, and the Lowenstein Human Rights Project at Yale Law School.
The release coincided with Nakba Day, the anniversary of the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to create the State of Israel.
"After reviewing the facts established by independent human rights monitors, journalists, and United Nations agencies, we conclude that Israel's actions in and regarding Gaza since October 7, 2023, violate the Genocide Convention," the report states.
"Israel has committed genocidal acts of killing, causing serious harm to, and inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, a protected group that forms a substantial part of the Palestinian people."
These acts include killing over 5% of Gaza's population in seven months and destroying more than 70% of homes as well as hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure.
States urged to avoid complicity in Israel's genocide
The independent legal experts also found ample evidence that Israel has genocidal intent – one of the elements of the crime according to the 1948 convention.
The report states that "officials at all levels of Israeli government, up to and including the Prime Minister, have made remarks that not only express blatant and unequivocal dehumanization and cruelty against Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere, but also explicitly reflect intentions to destroy and exterminate Palestinians as such."
Israeli forces' actions in Gaza only serve to underline that conclusion.
The authors of the report note that compliance with the Genocide Convention requires other countries to avoid complicity in the crime they say is taking place, and to take positive steps to prevent further atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Nevertheless, the Biden administration has continued to support Israel on the world stage and to send billions of dollars in weapons over the last seven months, enabling the slaughter of more than 35,000 Palestinians.
Palestinians and Palestinian Americans have launched a historic lawsuit accusing President Joe Biden and other top US officials of failing in their obligations to prevent genocide. A federal judge in Oakland dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds in late January but affirmed there is a likely case genocide is happening in Gaza with "unflagging support" from the Biden administration.
Plaintiffs have appealed the dismissal, with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granting a motion to expedite the case.
The International Court of Justice has also ruled there is a plausible case Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Cover photo: AFP