Dr. Omer Bartov is the Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University. (Photo courtesy of the University of New Mexico)
An Israeli scholar specializing in Holocaust and genocide studies said what his government has been doing in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023 constitutes a genocide.
Dr. Omer Bartov, the Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, is set to speak at the University of New Mexico on Monday. He told Source New Mexico that did not come to his conclusion about Gaza lightly.
For a long time, Bartov said, he was resistant to describing the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) actions in Gaza as genocidal.
In 2023, he wrote in the New York Times there was “no proof that genocide is currently taking place in Gaza, although it is very likely that war crimes, and even crimes against humanity, are happening.”
“I thought genocide was still not taking place, but it might, and that this has to be stopped,” he said. Of course, the violence hasn’t stopped, he said.
Bartov’s position changed after May 8, 2024, when the IDF launched its operation in the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza.
“It was at that point that I thought that I could no longer resist calling it a genocide,” Bartov said.
Bartov said at that point, it appeared what the IDF had been engaged in was “the systematic destruction of Gaza.”
This includes houses, schools, universities, hospitals, museums, and mosques, “everything that makes it possible for a society to survive,” Bartov said.
As of Monday, the IDF killed 41,400 people in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, though some estimates put the number much higher
What Israel has created is a situation for Palestinians in Gaza which has “made it impossible for them to exist,” he said.
“If you link all of those together, I’m afraid that you can’t call it anything else but a genocidal campaign,” Bartov said.
See Bartov speak
Bartov will be speaking at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 30 in Anthropology 163 at the University of New Mexico.
The event is free and open to the public.
His talk is in-person only and will not have a remote option, according to an event organizer.
Bartov’s talk is titled, “Speaking of Genocide: The Holocaust, Israel-Palestine, and the War in Gaza since October 7.”
Bartov said he will discuss the historical roots of what people are seeing now, how they see and understand what’s going on, and how people explain that to themselves, especially among Israelis.