The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) supported a resolution stating that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip meet the legal definition of the crime of genocide, but Israel is pointedly criticizing the statement, labeling it “disgraceful” and backed by Hamas propaganda.
Some 86 percent of the association’s members have supported the motion.
The official IAGS statement reads that Israel is committing “war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined in international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”
IAGS then called upon the Israeli government to cease all such activities, “including deliberate attacks against and killing of civilians including children; starvation; deprivation of humanitarian aid, water, fuel, and other items essential to the survival of the population; sexual and reproductive violence; and forced displacement of the population.”
The body further called upon all members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to enforce any arrest warrant issued by it, clearly indicating its disappointment in the lack of action against Netanyahu despite the ICC arrest warrant out on him.
Founded in 1994, the IAGS has 500 members, including academics, historians, political scientists, and human rights activists, and runs its own journal. It is described as the largest organization documenting and studying genocide in the world.
In response to the declaration, Israel’s Foreign Ministry called it “disgraceful” and “an embarrassment to the legal profession and to any academic standard” in a post on X.
Accusing the IAGS of not verifying any of the information upon which its declaration is based upon, Israel said the group’s statement “is entirely based on Hamas’s campaign of lies and the laundering of those lies by others.”
The ministry also called out these “Genocide Scholars” for backing those who have openly declared the “goal of killing every Jew.”
The statement of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) is an embarrassment to the legal profession and to any academic standard.
It is entirely based on Hamas’s campaign of lies and the laundering of those lies by others. The IAGS did not do the most basic…
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 1, 2025
