Amos Goldberg: ‘Yes, It’s a Genocide in Gaza

Share this post:

Aerial view of London protest banner reading Yes It's a Genocide near Big Ben and double-decker buses.

Renowned Holocaust Scholar Calls on the World to Confront the Unfolding Genocide in Gaza.

Amos Goldberg, a distinguished professor of Holocaust history from Jerusalem, has spent nearly three decades researching and teaching about genocide, state violence, and humanity’s darkest chapters. In a deeply personal and courageous statement, he confronts the unfolding tragedy in Gaza, describing it as genocide under the definition set by Raphael Lemkin, the scholar who coined the term.

Goldberg reflects on the devastating events, the harrowing loss of life, and the alarming rhetoric fueling the destruction, urging the world to face this grim reality and break the silence.

On 4 December 2024, Led By Donkeys unfurled an enormous banner in Parliament Square in London. This is a statement by Amos Goldberg. This text was posted on X.

So yes, it is a genocide. And once you come to this conclusion, you cannot remain silent.

“My name is Amos Goldberg. I am an Israeli Professor of Holocaust Studies.

For nearly 30 years I have researched and taught the Holocaust, genocide, and state violence.

And I want to tell whoever is willing to listen that what’s happening now in Gaza is a genocide.

A year ago, when October 7th happened, like all Israelis, I was in shock.

It was a war crime and a crime against humanity. 1200 people—more than 800 of them civilians—were killed in one day.

Children and the elderly were among those taken hostage. Communities were destroyed. It was outrageous, traumatizing, and personal. Like most Israelis, I know people who were killed, lost loved ones, or whose loved ones were taken hostage.

But immediately afterwards came Israel’s response, and within weeks thousands of civilians were killed in Gaza.

It took me some time to digest what was unfolding before my eyes. It was agonizing to confront that reality.

I was reluctant to call it genocide.

But if you read Raphael Lemkin—the Jewish-Polish legal scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ and was the major driving force behind the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention—what is happening in Gaza now is exactly what he had in mind when he spoke about genocide.

It does not need to look like the Holocaust to be a genocide.

Each genocide looks different, and not all involve the killing of millions or the entire group.

The United Nations Genocide Convention explicitly asserts that genocide is the act of deliberately destroying a group in whole or in part. Those are the words.

But there does need to be a clear intent. And indeed, there are clear indications of intent to destroy Gaza:

Israel’s leaders—including the prime minister and the minister of defence—and many high-ranking military officers, media personalities, rabbis, as well as ordinary soldiers—were very open about what they wanted to achieve.

There were countless documented incitements to turn the whole of Gaza into rubble and claims that there are no innocent people living there.

A radical atmosphere of dehumanization of the Palestinians prevails in Israeli society to an extent that I can’t remember in my 58 years of living here. Now that vision has been enacted.

Tens of thousands of innocent children, women, and men have been killed. Over a hundred thousand were wounded. There is a near total destruction of infrastructure, intentional starvation, and blocking of humanitarian aid.

There are mass graves and reliable testimony of summary executions.

Children that were shot by snipers.

All the universities and almost all hospitals are gone. Almost all the population is displaced. There have been numerous bombings of civilians in so-called ‘safe zones’. Gaza does not exist anymore. It is completely destroyed.

Thus, the outcome fits perfectly with the stated intentions of Israel’s leadership.

Lemkin—that scholar who coined the term ”genocide’—described two phases of a genocide.

The first is the destruction of the annihilated group, and the second is what he called the ‘imposition of the national pattern’ of the perpetrator.

We are now witnessing the second phase as Israel prepares ethnically cleansed areas for Israeli settlements.

And therefore, I have come to the conclusion that this is exactly what a genocide looks like.

We don’t teach about genocides in order to realize it retrospectively.

We teach about it in order to prevent it and to stop it.

But like in every other case of genocide in history right now, we have mass denial.

Both here in Israel and around the world.

But reality cannot be denied.

So yes, it is a genocide. And once you come to this conclusion, you cannot remain silent.”

Read his interview: https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/prof-amos-goldberg-yes-it-is-genocide/

The United Nations Genocide Convention explicitly asserts that genocide is the act of deliberately destroying a group in whole or in part. Those are the words. But there does need to be a clear intent. And indeed, there are clear indications of intent to destroy Gaza.

Lemkin—that scholar who coined the term ''genocide'—described two phases of genocide. The first is the destruction of the annihilated group, and the second is what he called the ‘imposition of the national pattern’ of the perpetrator. We are now witnessing the second phase as Israel prepares ethnically cleansed areas for Israeli settlements.

When October 7th happened, it was a war crime and a crime against humanity. 1200 people—more than 800 of them civilians—were killed in one day. But immediately afterwards came Israel’s response, and what is happening in Gaza now is a genocide.

Collage of Israeli political figures with quotes about Gaza and conflict response.
Young boy carries injured child amid distressed crowd and emergency backdrop, highlighting bravery during crisis.
Image of text advocating #NOTATARGET, listing babies, schools, children, civilians, hospitals, humanitarians, and healthcare workers.

Who are "Led by Donkeys"?

Smiling woman in red dress sitting on a white sofa, leaning on her hand.

Nancy Perin

Nancy is a caring individual with a background in sociology and a strong desire to connect people. She has improved workplaces and communities with her almost two decades of experience in management teams, human resources, coaching, and community project management. Nancy has also served on the board of directors of the Italian Personnel Managers Association and participated in a humanitarian mission to Dakar, Senegal, to support family centres.

Her intercultural love story sparked her interest in migration-relatedtopics and led her to launch @journeysta, a project that aims to strengthen cultural ties between Canada and Italy.

Nancy oversees the Gallery of Human Migration and believes in the possibility of creating caring communities that are involved in the processes of welcoming, acceptance, and integration. Join her on this journey of discovery and cultural exchange.

Stay Connected

Subscribe to Nancy’s e-newsletter and be among the first to learn about new articles …and more!

Woman smiling in a garden, sitting on a rock beside white flowers, enjoying the sunny day.