Junk Scholarship, Biased Sources, and the IAGS’ Genocide Smear Against Israel

The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) recently passed a resolution calling Israeli actions in Gaza genocide. At the ACLJ, we took a closer look at the resolution and conducted further research into the IAGS’s genocide accusation. Our findings below show what Israel is facing and how many are misled by such “scholars.”

Before discussing the content of the resolution, let’s examine the level of expertise of IAGS “scholars,” the organization’s membership, and how many members voted for the resolution.

According to Melanie O’Brien, President of IAGS, its members “mainly consist of people who are academics, so scholarly experts, but our membership is also made up of people who come from different communities within the field of genocide prevention, education, and punishment.” Anyone interested in becoming a member of IAGS can do so by making a $30 contribution. Currently, IAGS has about 600 members.

Some of these “scholars” include a person from Naboo, Syria, with the online name Emperor Palpatine; a person from Gaza named Adolf Hitler; and Mo Cookie, who wears a Hamas green scarf.

However, the IAGS resolution is so baseless that even some within the organization are speaking out. Sara Brown, an IAGS member with a doctorate in comparative genocide studies, states the following:

I fought this resolution and lost. Out of an estimated 500 members, 108 voted to pass this resolution (per IAGS, for a resolution to pass, it requires a 2/3 majority from a quorum of at least 20% plus one of all paid-up IAGS members). I tried to advocate for transparency, but the leadership refused to disclose who authored this resolution. I was promised a forum for scholarly debate and discussion, but no town hall was held.

She further states:

The headlines covering the results that IAGS actively reposted on its now-deleted X account presented the false perception of an overwhelming majority vote. There was none. Of the approximately 500 members, only 129 voted. Those who oppose this heinous, libelous resolution were silenced.

More importantly, Sara also claims that “no original research from IAGS membership was cited” in the resolution. And guess what? She is right. The ACLJ studied the resolution thoroughly and checked every source cited by the IAGS. All the sources the IAGS cites are biased anti-Israel individuals, organizations, and reports already questioned by the ACLJ. See our analysis of those reports here, here, here, here, here, and here for examples.

Now, let’s look at some of the glaring misrepresentations in the resolution itself.

The resolution begins with calling the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, “horrific,” stating that it “constitutes international crimes.” That’s it. The Israeli response, on the other hand, is described as “systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, including indiscriminate and deliberate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure (hospitals, homes, commercial buildings, etc.).”

Clearly, the resolution’s authors don’t believe that murdering approximately 1,200 unarmed civilians (including babies) in their homes, at a musical concert, and on the roads, without any provocation, constitutes crimes against humanity. They also don’t believe that murdering approximately 1,200 unarmed civilians just because they were Jewish Israelis (an act which actually meets the definition of genocide) constitutes genocide. Nor do they believe that Hamas terrorists raping and mutilating unarmed women and children merely because they were Jewish Israelis amounts to genocide or crimes against humanity.

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The resolution then states that “according to official U.N. estimates, at the date of this resolution, [Israel] has killed more than 59,000 adults and children in Gaza.” (Emphasis added.) The “only” problem is that these are not “official U.N. estimates.” The resolution cites a U.N. website, which in fact disclaims these numbers as “yet-to-be verified by the U.N.” and clearly states that the numbers were provided by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza. This should cause one to wonder: If such esteemed scholars lie about the source of these numbers, can we trust Hamas to provide the correct numbers?

Note that, while the IAGS “[d]eclares that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide” on the basis of the number of casualties, that number does not distinguish between combatants and civilians or exclude lawful collateral casualties.

The number does not account for how many of those who died were Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists and how many were civilians. The number does not account for how many died as a result of Hamas’ or PIJ’s faulty rockets. The number does not account for how many died in the civilian facilities that Hamas had turned into legitimate military targets by operating from those facilities and forcing civilians to stay – a fact commonly known and adequately proven. The number does not account for incidental civilian casualties, while Israel targeted legitimate military objectives after taking every precaution to spare civilian lives.

The resolution then extensively relies on the U.N. Commission of Inquiry that has released several reports making absurd and false accusations against Israel. As mentioned above, the IAGS provides no investigation or analysis of its own but instead relies on the U.N. Commission’s reports. (I provided a list of ACLJ’s responses to those reports above.)

Now allow me to share with you the absurd accusations from one of those reports that the IAGS relies upon. Citing a U.N. Commission’s report, the IAGS resolution states that Israel is committing sexual and reproductive violence against people in Gaza. Yes, the U.N. Commission did make that erroneous accusation.

Note that sexual and reproductive violence includes rape, forced miscarriage, forced sterilizations, genital mutilation, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancies, or acts of such nature. However, the Commission provided no examples or evidence of such acts being committed by the Israeli military.

Instead, the Commission listed instances of destruction of hospitals or the roads leading to them, and the scarcity of maternity equipment, menstrual pads, and healthy food for women, as examples of sexual and reproductive violence. Such examples, as tragic as they are, do not even remotely constitute sexual or reproductive violence. Yet, based on the U.N. Commission’s report, the IAGS accuses Israel of committing sexual and reproductive violence.

As for the commissioners heading the U.N. Commission and who write such absurd reports, ACLJ attorneys have met them. These commissioners tell us that the Commission is not a legal body. Yet the Commission makes absurd legal conclusions. The commissioners have also told us that they are not taking any action to help the Israeli hostages. They say, “It’s not in their mandate.”

The IAGS resolution also cites Francesca Albanese, “U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967,” who is known for her hatred of Israel. Officials from the U.S., UK, Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, the European Union, Hungary, Argentina, Albania, and from several institutions and organizations have discredited her for her anti-Israel rhetoric. More importantly, however, like the U.N. Commission of Inquiry, Albanese also has not provided any evidence to support her baseless accusations.

It isn’t possible to address every blatant ethical violation, misrepresentation, and absurd accusation in the IAGS resolution – but the picture is clear.

Unlike the IAGS or its resolution, which includes no legal analysis, we recently prepared a legal analysis of the situation in Gaza under the law of genocide, which can be read here.

The IAGS resolution is nothing more than a political hit job disguised as scholarship. It leans on biased sources, inflated numbers, and baseless claims – while whitewashing Hamas’ atrocities. In doing so, the IAGS shreds its own credibility and cheapens the very word “genocide.” That word carries weight, and it should never be twisted to serve an agenda. Israel has not only the right but the duty to defend its people from terror.

The ACLJ will keep exposing these lies, fighting this dangerous distortion of truth, and standing for justice grounded in facts and real international law. Stand with us as we stand with Israel. Add your name to the petition: Stand With Israel. Defend Israel.