Ayman Mohyeldin: Why Amnesty International and other experts say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
The organization's new report adds to a growing consensus among some experts about what has happened in Gaza over the last 14 months.
Dec. 10, 2024, 10:20 AM EST
By Ayman Mohyeldin
This is an adapted excerpt from the Dec. 7 episode of “Ayman.”
On Thursday, Amnesty International, the world’s largest and most storied humanitarian organization, released a 297-page study titled “‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza.” The key word there is “genocide.”
n the 14 months since Israeli officials, like former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, declared that no food, water, electricity or fuel would be allowed in the Gaza Strip — a remark made two days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel — that charge of genocide has been made against and fiercely denied by Israel and its supporters, including the United States.
Back in January, the International Court of Justice ruled that it was plausible that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gallant for war crimes, marking the first time the ICC has done so against a Western ally of the United States.
One of the legal scholars who advocated for these charges against Israeli leaders was Theodor Meron, a man who oversaw the world’s first genocide trials. Meron was once an Israeli diplomat, then an American judge, and was himself a survivor of the Nazi genocide of Jews.
Likewise, Aryeh Neier, founder of Human Rights Watch and one of the leading human rights experts in the world — also a Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany — told me back in June that, in his view, what Israel was doing in Gaza is a genocide.
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Department Press Briefing
Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson
December 5, 2024
MR PATEL: Said, that’s an opinion. And you’re certainly welcome and you are entitled to it, as are all the organizations that you listed. They are entitled to make their own analysis of the situation and come to their own conclusions.
What I can say as a spokesperson of the U.S. Government and as a spokesperson of this administration is that the findings of – the accusations of genocide, we continue to believe those to be unfounded.
That does not change and that does not change the prioritization and the stress and the emphasis that we are placing on ensuring that there is appropriate access to humanitarian assistance, ensuring that every possible measure is taken to protect civilians, ensuring that we’re doing everything possible to bring this war to an end.
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MR PATEL: People, organizations, groups are entitled to draw their own conclusions. The U.S. conclusion is that these allegations of genocide are unfounded. There are and there continue to exist a number of avenues within the U.S. Government in which we are looking at what’s happening on the ground, where those assessments continue to be ongoing. But I don’t have any update to provide as it relates to that.
https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-december-5-2024/
The following counties are among those that oppose South Africa's case:
Australia
Austria
France
Germany
Italy
United States
United Kingdom
Both Canada and the EU are officially neutral.
as well as with the existing case law and rulings, as does France, Germany, Australia, Italy, and the UK.
The fact that Ireland and Amnesty International are seeking to change the statutory definition of genocide disproves the position of "international community" members China, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Malaysia, Nicaragua, and Indonesia.
Australia
Austria
France
Germany
Italy
United States
United Kingdom
Both Canada and the EU are officially neutral.
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Among the countries that support SA's case are countries that either have skin in the game, abysmal human rights records, or both.
China
Iraq
Libya
Syria
Turkey
Indonesia
Jordan
Lebanon
Egypt
Malaysia
Nicaragua