Genocide Scholars or Activists? The Sham Vote That Targets Israel (Daled Amos) ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Monday, September 08, 2025

Genocide Scholars or Activists? The Sham Vote That Targets Israel (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

Last weekend brought another strike in the propaganda war against Israel—this time from an association of genocide scholars accusing Israel of the ultimate crime.

On August 31, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) passed a three-page resolution condemning Israel for genocide:

Recognising that, since the horrific Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023, which itself constitutes international crimes, the government of Israel has engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, including indiscriminate and deliberate attacks against the civilians and civilian infrastructure (hospitals, homes, commercial buildings, etc.) of Gaza, which, according to official UN estimates, at the date of this resolution, has killed more than 59,000 adults and children in Gaza;

The media ran with it. The Washington Post declared: Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza, Leading Scholars’ Association Says The Guardian proclaimed Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world’s top scholars on the crime say, and the BBC echoed the same line with Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world's leading experts say. ABC News featured IAGS president Melanie O’Brien, who proudly claimed that 90% of those voting supported the resolution.

Elder of Ziyon was among the first to expose the resolution's flaws. (The "Genocide Scholars" Who Cannot Define Genocide). He noted IAGS's lack of scholarship:

o IAGS offered no original, independent analysis of its own. Instead, they "outsourced their scholarship on the very subject that they claim to own."

o They did no fact-checking, accepting Hamas's number for casualties at face value, even though the number does not distinguish between terrorists and civilians.
o They gave no recognition to serious scholars from the other side of the issue who dismissed the genocide allegations.

Meanwhile, the only IAGS brief addressing Hamas’s own genocidal attack, Hamas's Genocidal Violence by Sara E. Brown, came with a disclaimer: “The views expressed herein are the authors’ alone and do not represent the views of IAGS.” Apparently, condemning Hamas required distance—unlike condemning Israel.

Then came a bombshell. Writing in The Forward (In the rush to vilify Israel, genocide scholars ignored the truth), Sara Brown revealed how the resolution was rammed through: of 500 members, only 129 voted. Just 108 supported it. That’s 28% of the membership—barely meeting the group’s minimal quorum of 20% plus one.

Compare these lackluster numbers with O'Brien's public boast:

This resolution declaring what is happening in Gaza as genocide passed by an overwhelming majority far beyond the two thirds majority required. Our membership is global. We also have members who are from survivor communities, so this is a really representative opinion of people who work as experts in the field of genocide studies.

The @GenocideStudies president claims a resolution that Israel is committing genocide "passed by an overwhelming majority" and is a "really representative opinion" of experts.

It's not. Only 28% of the membership actually voted.

Melanie O'Brien, your resolution is a sham. pic.twitter.com/LL33WH6HcV
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 2, 2025

Really? Twenty-eight percent of members voted. That’s not overwhelming—that’s embarrassing. No wonder The Guardian needed to hedge their article with the sub-headline: "International Association of Genocide Scholars resolution backed by 86% of members who voted."

Brown also exposed the secrecy: no transparency, no debate, no town hall. Leadership even refused to name the resolution’s authors. Meanwhile, IAGS amplified headlines suggesting a massive consensus. This wasn’t scholarship; it was spin. The deliberate blockage of criticism is just one more indication of the lack of real scholarship and professionalism plaguing IAGS.

Why such sloppy work? Maybe because IAGS isn’t just scholars. As Jewish Insider notes, anyone can join—artists, activists, “others interested in genocide.” In other words: not exactly a panel of legal experts.

This is why the resolution contains a blatant error on international law:

Acknowledging that the International Court of Justice found in three provisional measures order in the case of South Africa v. Israel — January, March, and May 2024 — that it is plausible that Israel is committing genocide in its attack in Gaza and ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement of genocide and to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza;

The president of the ICJ has already publicly debunked that claim:

[The ICJ] did not decide--and this is something where I'm correcting what's often said in the media--it didn't decide that the claim of genocide was plausible. It did emphasize in the order that there was a risk of irreparable harm to the Palestinian right to be protected from genocide, but the shorthand that often appears, which is that there's a plausible case of genocide, isn't what the court decided.

The International Association of Genocide Scholars wants the world to believe its resolution reflects a united, scholarly consensus. It doesn’t. The vote was driven by a small, activist minority relying on Hamas-supplied numbers and misrepresenting international law. When an academic body trades rigor for politics, it doesn’t just fail—it erodes trust in the entire field.

And the backlash has already begun. Scholars for Truth about Genocide issued a public letter condemning IAGS and demanding a retraction of what they call a “resolution accusing Israel of genocide amid a clear misapplication of law and history.”