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The State of Israel has been accused of carrying out a genocide against Palestinians at various times during the longstanding Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Debate is ongoing about whether Israel's treatment of Palestinians since the Nakba meets the definition of genocide, and whether such actions are continuous or limited to specific periods or events. This treatment has also been characterised as "slow-motion genocide",[1][2] as well as a corollary or expression of settler colonialism and indigenous land theft.[3][4][5]
Those who believe Israel's actions constitute genocide point to the entrenched anti-Palestinianism, anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia and genocidal rhetoric in Israeli society, and point to events such as the Nakba, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the 2014 Gaza War and the Gaza war as particularly pertinent genocidal episodes.[6][7] International law and genocide scholars have accused Israeli officials of using dehumanising language.[8][9][10] During the Gaza war, Israeli Holocaust historian Omer Bartov warned that statements made by high-ranking Israeli government officials "could easily be construed as indicating a genocidal intent".[11]
On 29 December 2023, South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel's conduct in Gaza during the 2023 war amounted to genocide.[12][13] South Africa asked the ICJ to issue provisional measures, including ordering Israel to halt its military campaign in Gaza.[12] The Israeli government agreed to defend itself at the ICJ proceedings, while also denouncing South Africa's actions as "disgraceful" and accusing it of abetting "the modern heirs of the Nazis".[14] South Africa's case has been supported by a number of countries.[15] On 26 January 2024, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling finding that the claims in South Africa's filing were "plausible" and issued an order to Israel requiring them to take all measures within their power to prevent acts of genocide and to allow basic humanitarian services into Gaza.[16] In March 2024, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, issued a report stating that there were "reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission" of acts of genocide had been met. Israel rejected the report.[17][18]
Israel and the United States have rejected the assertion that Israel is engaging in genocide.[19][20] While some scholars describe Palestinians as victims of genocide, others argue that what took place was ethnic cleansing,[21][22][23] politicide, spaciocide, cultural genocide or similar.[24][25][a] Some critics of the accusation have argued that the charge that Israel is committing genocide is an assertion commonly made by anti-Zionists with the aim of delegitimising or demonising Israel.[29]
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