Prof. Lee Mordechai, a leading Israeli historian, spoke out against what he describes as genocide.
In January 2024, Lee Mordechai, an Israeli historian and Assistant Professor at Hebrew University, published a devastating 124-page report, meticulously documented with 1,400 footnotes.
The report lays out what Mordechai identifies as evidence of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Yet, how many of us have heard about this groundbreaking study? Did any major Western media outlets pick it up?
Mordechai, widely respected for his scholarship on Byzantine history and environmental crises, including the Justinianic Plague and the climatic upheaval of 536 CE, has turned his rigorous academic lens onto one of the most contentious issues of our time.
In his own words, Mordechai states:
“I am an historian and Israeli citizen. Over the past year, I have been writing publicly about events in Gaza during the war, while collecting and documenting thousands of pieces of evidence and dozens of reports. The communities in which I live and work still do not know enough about events in Gaza and are not doing enough to stop the war. Based on the evidence I have collected, Israel is ethnically cleansing North Gaza, presumably as some groups in Israel are planning to resettle it.”
Read more here: https://witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/zoom-in-3-the-ethnic-cleansing-campaign-in-north-gaza-5-12-24/
Mordechai’s report (https://witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/), continuously updated and last revised in November, details the siege on North Gaza.
He describes a calculated campaign of ethnic cleansing involving:
- Starvation of the local population on an unprecedented scale.
- Systematic destruction of civic infrastructure.
- Intense military operations resulting in thousands of civilian casualties, including women and children.
Â
In one section, he focuses on the health system and the Kamal Adwan hospital, presenting it as a microcosm of the larger operation. His chilling conclusion:
“Speaking about Palestinians in genocidal language is considered legitimate in Israeli discourse… what Israel is doing to the Palestinian population in Gaza aligns with the definition of genocide.”
This report is not an isolated effort. It stands alongside South Africa’s 750-page memorial, Forensic Architecture’s 827-page investigation (https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/a-cartography-of-genocide), Amnesty International’s 300-page analysis, and a growing consensus among leading experts and global institutions that have affirmed that the events in Gaza constitute genocide.Â
Each draws on extensive evidence, including widely circulated videos often uploaded by Israeli soldiers themselves. These videos, horrifying and incriminating, are known to many yet remain conspicuously absent from Western media coverage and political discourse.
Mordechai’s work, like that of others who dare to speak out, poses an uncomfortable question:
How long will the world look the other way?
“I felt that I couldn’t go on living in my bubble, that we’re talking about capital offences, and that what’s going on is just too large and contradicts the values I was raised on here,” Mordechai told Haaretzcom.
Based on the evidence I have collected, Israel is ethnically cleansing North Gaza, presumably as some groups in Israel are planning to resettle it.
Prof Lee Mordechai Tweet
Speaking about Palestinians in genocidal language is considered legitimate in Israeli discourse... what Israel is doing to the Palestinian population in Gaza aligns with the definition of genocide.
Prof Lee Mordechai Tweet