Genocide, Genocide Convention, Raphael Lemkin

[Peter Lemkin]

They are a rather small group and have just started a few years ago. I've been in contact with them. Yes, they are on the correct side of history and ethics/international law. Most of them that make up the Institute (not all) happen to be Jewish, but like me, and like my uncle Raphael were he still alive, condemn in the strongest terms what Israeli Zionism is doing against the Palestinians. It is pure genocide as defined by my uncle in his Genocide Convention at the United Nations. They have gotten a lot of angry push-back mostly by Jewish groups who blindly support anything Israel does and by the Christian Zionists who believe (and hope for) the end of the World coming soon starting with a major war in Biblical Palestine. They have a good website and put out a journal. There are many other groups now who's main purpose is to identify and try to bring to justice acts of Genocide, which sadly have never ended since WWII [and long predate that time]. Maybe I'll make a new thread and list some of the ones I know about and their websites. There is also a long and 'hidden' hidden history of Israel I could outline and mention some great books on the subject. The population of Israel is split [not the leadership of the country who are nearly all fascists and genocidally oriented against the Palestinians] - slightly less than half totally condemn what their leaders are doing and believe the land and laws should be shared equally with the Palestinians who lived there for at least two thousand years or longer. Slightly more than half sadly want to destroy Palestinians, having robbed their land and their homes they want to rob them of their lives, history and future survival. Trump of course also wants to do this and make Gaza into a Trump theme park. Disgusting and sad. More US Jews are pro-Palestinian than those in Israel now [it changes over time in both locations], but Trump and his thugs are trying to get all universities to throw out any Jewish or other students who protest the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank by Israel. The also label it antisemitism, which it is NOT. More later and will start a new thread on all this.....

Your Uncle Lemkin's institute has put out a condemnation on the Gaza Genocide:

https://www.lemkininstitute.com/active-g...-west-bank

[Peter Lemkin]

I will soon add others, but one very good group is Jewish Voices For Peace. They can be found on bluesky @jvp.bsky.social and their website is https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/   They are a VERY progressive Jewish group - anti-Zionist, pro-Palestinian, calling out loudly about Israeli [and US assistance in] Gaza/West Bank ongoing Genocide in Israel since the Stern Gang became the first of the Israeli Governmental leaders. I will add books to read and groups that work on my uncle Raphael Lemkin's legacy against Genocide shortly. The USA was the last major country to sign my uncle's Genocide Convention Against the Crime of Genocide at the United Nations (because they rightly feared the US treatment of the Native Americans and the African Slaves brought here could be used under the treaty!). More on all this shortly and the main groups and legal bodies that work on this now, as well as its history.

[Peter Lemkin]

The Lemkin Institute condemns Israel, Europe, Canada, and the USA for Gaza Genocide
Monday, April 07, 2025 at 3:53:57p CEST
[url=https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/7/2315105/-The-Lemkin-Institute-condemns-Israel-Europe-Canada-and-the-USA-for-Gaza-Genocide#comments][/url]

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Palestinians bury people killed in the Israeli bombardment who were brought from the Shifa hospital, in a mass grave in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Nov 22, 2023. (AP)
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention—an organization named after Raphael Lemkin, the jurist who first defined the very word genocide and campaigned against it—has issued a damning condemnation of Israel, the United States, Canada, and European nations, accusing them of perpetrating a genocide in Gaza. In a statement released on April 5, the Institute declared that Western governments have not only enabled but actively supported Israel’s brutal assault on Palestinians, despite clear evidence of mass atrocities.  
“It is a moral wrong that should haunt these countries for eternity,” the statement read. It also stresses the danger of “rising fascism.”

The indictment from the Lemkin Institute carries particular weight given its mandate to document and prevent genocide. Since October 2023, Israel’s military campaign has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, displaced nearly the entire population of Gaza, and systematically destroyed civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and universities. All of this has unfolded with the full political, military, and financial backing of the U.S. and its allies, who have repeatedly dismissed overwhelming evidence of war crimes as mere acts of “self-defense.”  
The Lemkin Institute’s statement pulls no punches, accusing Western leaders of acting in bad faith. “They all have known this is genocide,” it asserts. Indeed, Israeli officials have repeatedly made genocidal statements—calls for the erasure of Gaza, the forced expulsion of its people, and the denial of basic humanitarian aid. These are not the words of a state defending itself; they are the hallmarks of a state carrying out a campaign of annihilation.  
Yet the U.S., Canada, and Europe have continued to arm Israel, veto ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations, and smear critics of the violence as antisemitic. In doing so, they have not only greenlit mass slaughter but also eroded the very institutions meant to prevent such atrocities.  
The statement draws a direct line between Western support for Israel’s genocide and the resurgence of fascist politics across Europe and North America. “Rising fascism in the West is both a cause and consequence of the West's support for the genocide of Palestinians,” the Institute warns. Far-right leaders have exploited the crisis to stoke Islamophobia and crack down on dissent, while liberal parties—despite their rhetoric of human rights—have proven equally complicit in sustaining the violence.  
The result, as the Lemkin Institute starkly puts it, is that “genocide is now the prevailing order of the world today.” The rules-based international system, already weakened by decades of Western imperialism and militarism, has collapsed entirely in Gaza.  
With global institutions failing, the Lemkin Institute urges ordinary people to take up the mantle of resistance. “It is time for the people of the world to combine forces and peacefully put an end to this endless horror,” the statement declares. From student encampments to mass protests, grassroots movements have already shown the power of collective action in challenging state violence.  
But the moral reckoning, the Institute insists, must go deeper. Those who have enabled this carnage—whether through weapons shipments, political cover, or silence—must be held accountable. “Shame on all who have allowed this,” the statement concludes. History will not forget.  
As Palestinians in Gaza continue to post their farewells to the world, their voices are a testament to both the cruelty of their oppressors and the resilience of those fighting for liberation. The question now is whether the world will listen—or whether, as the Lemkin Institute warns, this genocide will stain the conscience of the West for generations to come.

[Lauren Johnson]

A mother saving her children.  The child on her right side appears to have a partially amputated leg.


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