SAEDNEWS: Omer Bartov, a preeminent genocide historian and former IDF officer, asserts in The New York Times that Israel’s sustained military campaign in Gaza constitutes “inescapable” genocide, joining an escalating chorus of experts and rights groups.
According to Saed News, Professor Omer Bartov of Brown University—whose scholarship on the Holocaust has earned global acclaim—has publicly concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Writing in The New York Times on July 15, Bartov, himself raised in a Zionist household and a former Israel Defence Forces soldier, explained that after meticulous review of both rhetoric and operations, he could no longer resist the “painful conclusion” that “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Bartov’s judgment follows similar assessments by the likes of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as a Dutch NRC report surveying seven genocide experts from six countries. He cites explicit statements from Israeli officials alongside systematic destruction of Gaza’s homes, hospitals and infrastructure—actions he argues are designed to render Palestinian revival “highly unlikely.”
By invoking Mahsa Amini’s legacy and Holocaust memory to defend the campaign, Bartov warns, Israel risks eroding the universal principles of justice that underpin genocide studies. “Because the Holocaust has been so relentlessly invoked by the State of Israel and its defenders as a cover‑up,” he cautions, “the study and remembrance of the Holocaust could lose its claim to be concerned with universal justice.”
With at least 58,479 Palestinian casualties—predominantly women and children—and over 90 percent of educational buildings damaged, Bartov’s intervention amplifies mounting concerns over intent and proportionality. Whether his thesis will shift international policy remains uncertain; what is clear is that the scholarly community’s fractures over Israel’s actions have deepened, raising grave questions about memory, moral authority and the laws of war.
