Connect with us

RSS

$30 and You Can Become a Genocide Scholar

People demonstrate in the city of Santander, Spain, under the motto ‘Let’s stop the genocide in Gaza,’ on Jan. 20, 2024. Photo: Joaquin Gomez Sastre/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect

“Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world’s leading experts say,” blared a BBC headline and similar others in the international media.

Damning stuff. After all, who should know more about genocide than the “world’s leading experts” on the subject?

But, like most of the anti-Israel news appearing daily, it’s bogus. It turns out that, as HonestReporting board member Salo Aizenberg discovered, all you need to be a genocide scholar is to own a credit card.

For a minimum of only 30 dollars, you can become one of the “world’s leading experts.”

Aizenberg (and many other interested people) paid (as little as $30 for a year) to become a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, which describes itself as a “global, interdisciplinary, non-partisan organization that seeks to further research and teaching about the nature, causes, and consequences of genocide, and advance policy studies on genocide prevention.”

“Non-partisan,” it certainly isn’t. Only a few days ago, the organization passed a resolution declaring that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Who were these experts passing judgment on Israel’s actions against Hamas terrorists in Gaza?

As Aizenberg discovered upon joining, the membership isn’t exclusively academics, historians, librarians, or even recognized experts on genocide.

Indeed, it became clear that the IAGS wasn’t checking who joins.

Shortly after pro-Israel activists started joining the IAGS to expose its failings, the organization appeared to take action, shutting down its membership page and removing its membership list from public view.

The organization’s social media also appeared to be offline as new applicants were marked as “inactive,” including genuine and legitimate genocide scholars who happen to be pro-Israel like Elliot Malin.

Spinning a “Majority Vote”

As for the vote itself, the IAGS’s president, Mary O’Brien, proudly proclaimed that her organization’s genocide resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority, a claim amplified by some media outlets that failed to check the actual numbers and do the math.

At the time of the vote, the IAGS had some 500 members eligible to vote. Only 28% of the full membership bothered. So when some media or the IAGS’s staff claimed an overwhelming majority of the members — some 86% — voted in favor, they were not being transparent.

Subverting the Organization

Even without getting into the substance of the resolution, it’s clear that the IAGS has been taken over by activists less concerned with actual genocide scholarship and more interested in anti-Israel activism.

Organization member Dr. Sara E. Brown noted:

We were promised a town hall, which is a common practice for controversial resolutions, but the president of the association reversed that. The association has also refused to disclose who were the authors of the resolution.

Perhaps the five Mahmood family members from Iraq, whom Aizenberg identified as fellow genocide experts, were responsible?

As the considerable media coverage proved, the inference of credibility that an organization like the IAGS possesses is a powerful weapon in the hands of anti-Israel activists posing as renowned experts in their field.

Too many organizations, including media, unions, trade associations, and others, have been hijacked by people hell bent on subverting everything to the Palestinian cause. And they’ll stop at nothing to blacken Israel’s name.

The author is the Editorial Director of HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

Continue Reading

RSS

After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

Continue Reading

RSS

Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

Continue Reading

RSS

Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News