An Open Letter to My Esteemed Colleagues at the International Association of Genocide Scholars

Friends,

As a member in good standing of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, I am simply appalled by our beloved organization’s resolution declaring the conflict in Gaza a “genocide.” This elite group of academics, researchers and complete randos — I mean, I paid $125 to join this very week — has allowed our once-sterling reputation to be forever tainted.

Why do I speak up? Need it be said that as a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, I am apparently one of the “world’s top scholars” on the matter of genocide.

It’s not just me saying this! It’s the BBC, as well as virtually every major news organization in the world. An impressive-sounding organizational name is all one needs to get into the papers. None of the reporters bothered to investigate who the “scholars” voting on this resolution were. Not even the names of the draftees were shared — a lack of transparency that undermines our credibility.

Take the Jew-baiting “human rights” activist Agnes Callamard of Amnesty International, who contends that an “overwhelming majority of members of the world’s leading genocide scholars” backed a resolution that finds what is happening in Gaza “meet(s) the legal definition of the crime.”

That is not true. A week ago, I could have voted on the genocide resolution, and my expertise is, let’s face it, predominantly in ’80s and ’90s indie rock.

Indeed, according to our dear former two-term IAGS advisory board member Sara Brown, only 128 of the association’s approximately 500 members participated. There was no “consensus” on the resolution despite our communications officer Emily Sample falsely claiming so to The Washington Post. We should really have a meeting about her future at our organization.

While we typically debate controversial resolutions in “a virtual town hall” (or so I hear), leadership declined to hold any discussions on this matter, according to Brown. As a member in good standing, I have access to the organization’s LISTSERV, which shows there were zero comments on the resolution before its passage.

The resolution itself is an embarrassing collection of half-truths and lies. It reads like the work of an earnest college freshman who believes hyperlinking a bunch of biased sources is tantamount to research. We repeat a litany of uncorroborated accusations made by Hamas and others. Remarkably, our resolution goes beyond the accusation of the terrorist organization. Hamas, for instance, has said that 58,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including 17,000 children. We contend that Israelis murdered 50,000 children alone, a completely concocted number. But, like Hamas, we don’t bother making any distinction between combatants and innocents. As highly respected scholars, we should be better than the Gaza Health Ministry.

We then cite organizations that have altered their definition of “genocide” for this conflict to place the burden of proof on Israel rather than those making the accusation. Is this how world-renowned scholars do their work? Because it seems like a shoddy shortcut. We don’t even link to the work of a single one of our members.

The war, which started when Hamas sent an army into Israel to murder, rape, torture and kidnap civilians, including children, is tragic. But our organization has now created a precedent that makes virtually every conflict a “genocide.” If Israel wanted to commit genocide, it would not be sending hundreds of thousands of metric tons of food and supplies to Palestinians in Gaza. It would not provide clean water and move the population away from war zones. Israel has gone out of its way to avoid civilian casualties while fighting combatants who hide behind noncombatants (something that we never mention).

If a handful of unnamed members of our organization are willing to distort reality, not to mention decency, to spread the propaganda of a terrorist state, what is our scholarship really worth? The genocide accusation is a hoax. I think they know it. I think that’s why there was no debate, why the authors of the resolution aren’t named, and why barely anyone voted.

We can do better.

Though I noticed as I write this letter that my membership has been rescinded.

Anyway, sincerely,

David Harsanyi (former member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars)

Agree/Disagree with the author(s)? Let them know in the comments below and be heard by 10’s of thousands of CDN readers each day!