Some "genocide scholars" are anti-Israel propagandists

Humanitarian aid dropped over Gaza (AFP/Getty Images)

Some “genocide scholars” are anti-Israel propagandists

By Hendrik van der Breggen

 

A recent resolution of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) claims Israel is committing genocide. But the resolution is anti-Israel propaganda—and truth-seeking people should not be fooled by it.

Serious doubt can be cast onto the credibility of the IAGS's members (at least some of them), its decision-making process, and its resolution.

Apparently, the membership of IAGS is open to people who are not genocide scholars, which is odd, to say the least. And this casts doubt onto the association of alleged “genocide scholars.” In fact, earlier today a reporter for i24NEWS who is admittedly not a genocide scholar was able to purchase a membership to the IAGS for a mere $30.00!!! (See link below.) Go figure.

Also, of the 500 members of the IAGS, only 129 participated in the resolution vote and 86% of those participants voted in favour of the resolution. If we do our math properly, that’s about 22% of the total IAGS membership. So it’s not at all clear that a whole lot of genocide scholars agree with the resolution.

This lack of clarity, however, did not stop The Guardian from posting this news headline on September 1, 2025: “Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world’s top scholars on the crime say: International Association of Genocide Scholars resolution backed by 86% of members who voted.” But the headline (and article) fails to mention that only about a mere quarter of the whole IAGS membership voted at all. So it’s a big stretch—i.e., propaganda—to say “world’s top scholars on the crime say….”

Moreover, according to Sara E. Brown, PhD, an actual genocide scholar and member of IAGS (who does not agree with the IAGS resolution), there was no critical discussion among members prior to the passing of the resolution. This is odd, too. And casts more doubt onto the legitimacy of the resolution.

If this isn’t disturbing enough, it turns out that the IAGS resolution itself has several problems—problems anyone who thinks critically and cares about truth can discern. I will examine three of those problems here. (I strongly suspect there are more problems, but I’ll leave that examination for another time.)

First, the resolution fails to notice that attacks on civilian infrastructure (hospitals, homes, mosques, etc.) are legitimate military targets, according to international rules of war (i.e., Geneva Conventions), when such infrastructure has been co-opted for war purposes (e.g., for hiding terror tunnels, tunnel shafts, weapons storage, etc.). This is the case in Gaza, but the IAGS resolution ignores this.

Second, the resolution fails to notice that, according to international rules of war, genocide requires intent (that is, “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” per Geneva Convention; italics added for emphasis). As it turns out, Israel’s intent is not to destroy Gazan civilians. Rather, Israel’s intent is to destroy Hamas. This distinction concerning intent renders the genocide charge false. 

Yes, civilian casualties are tragic and, sadly, to be expected in war (as collateral damage), but, again, their destruction is not intended by Israel. In fact, blame for Gazan civilian deaths should be put on Hamas and its supporters. Hamas—the initiator of the war—intentionally placed and places Gazan civilians in harm’s way by embedding fighters among civilians and storing weapons in civilian homes and other civilian infrastructure, rendering them legitimate military targets. Thereby, by Hamas’s design, Israel would unintentionally kill Gazan civilians and destroy civilian infrastructure as it rightly seeks to stop Hamas from killing Israeli citizens (at present and in the future, if Hamas is allowed to regroup). So, again, Hamas and its Gazan supporters, not Israel, are to blame for the deaths and destruction in Gaza. Intent to destroy civilians—Gazan civilians—rests with Hamas and its supporters, not Israel.

And, yes, some Israeli politicians have made angry genocidal remarks, but—significantly—this does not constitute Israeli policy. Israeli policy, as demonstrated repeatedly in the war, has been to minimize civilian casualties. The fact is that before and during the war with Hamas, Israel engaged in extraordinary efforts to protect Gazan civilians from potential harm. How? By warning them of Israel’s invasion by dropping millions of leaflets, sending millions of text and voice messages, and “knocking” (hitting a building’s roof with an low-yield but noisy “bomb” to warn residents that the next bomb will be more dangerous). And Israel has provided humanitarian corridors and safe zones (often made unsafe by Hamas). And Israel has provided tons and tons of food (often stolen by Hamas). These are not characteristics of genocidal intent.

Third, the IAGS resolution makes dubious claims about casualties. It states that there have been “more than 59,000 adults and children” killed in Gaza. Yes, if true, that’s a lot—and it’s horrible. But, significantly, the resolution fails to distinguish between civilians and combatants in its body count. It turns out that a very large portion of the casualty number consists of Hamas combatants, not just civilians. The Times of Israel reports that the fatality proportion of women and children is 51%, so the remaining 49% consists of male adults, many of whom are Hamas fighters.

The loss of civilians, especially children, is of course tragic. Horrible, in fact. Nevertheless, perspective is needed for getting at truth. When compared to other  recent urban wars, in the Israel-Gaza conflict fewer civilians have been destroyed per destroyed combatant. And this comparatively lower number of Gazan civilian casualties in the Israel-Gaza conflict is the case even though Hamas has, unlike the other cases of urban warfare, spent years not only embedding itself among civilians in Gaza but also fortifying its underground war machine (tunnels, weapons stores and manufacturing, booby-trapped buildings, etc.) without providing protection for civilians. Add to this the fact that the misfiring of many Hamas and Islamic Jihad rockets has caused many Gazan casualties, too. Indeed, according to New York Times, about 10 to 20 percent of Hamas’s thousands upon thousands of rockets fail and many fall into Gaza. That’s a lot of self-inflicted damage—and would no doubt also be a significant cause of the rubble and civilian casualties in Gaza. Moreover, the resolution fails to make explicit the fact that many of the “children” in the casualty count are teens who are child soldiers, taught from an early age by their parents and school teachers to hate and kill Jews. Surely, Gazan parents and teachers, not Israel, should be blamed for this evil exploitation—abuse—of their own children! 

So, yes, and sadly, many people, including children, have been killed in Gaza, but many of those deaths—especially the civilian deaths—are not intended by Israel, contrary to what the IAGS would make it seem.

Clearly, then, the resolution of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, which claims Israel is committing genocide, is a piece of anti-Israel propaganda.

Again, truth-seeking people should not be fooled.

 

For additional thought

Joe Brown, “Want to be a renowned genocide scholar? Pay 30$,” i24NEWS, September 3, 2025 (3 minute video).

Sara Brown, “Genocide scholars: Israel rebuke passed without debate,” i24NEWS, September 2, 2025 (8 minute video).

Olivia Flasch, “Rebutting Allegations of Genocide Against Israel,” EJIL: Talk! Blog of European Journal of International Law, January 10, 2024.

International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) Resolution on the Situation in Gaza.

Jeremy Sharon, “Hamas fatality figures for Gaza war are ‘clear disinformation,’ according to newstudy,” The Times of Israel, May 6, 2025.

Luke Tress, “Member of genocide association says group’s leadership pushed through Israel condemnation without discussion,” The Times of Israel, September 2, 2025.

Hendrik van der Breggen, “Gaza is a war machine,” APOLOGIA, March 24, 2025.

Hendrik van der Breggen, “Settler-colonialism and ethnic cleansing: Two false assumptions about Israel’s inception,” APOLOGIA, October 8, 2024.

 

I noticed this Free Press article just after I published my above article (it's a good read, though the headline should not suggest we don't trust all experts, because some experts are trustworthy and have genuine expertise; we need to think critically to sort out the trustworthy experts from those who are not trustworthy, to avoid throwing out the baby with the dirty bathwater): 

The editors, “Another Reason Not to Trust the ‘Experts,’” The Free Press, September 3, 2025.

 

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Hendrik van der Breggen, PhD, is a retired philosophy professor (formerly at Providence University College, Canada) and author of Untangling Popular Anti-Israel Arguments: Critical Thinking about the Israel-Hamas War (paperback can be purchased at Amazon or pdf can be downloaded for free here or book can be read also-for-free at APOLOGIA).