Omer Bartov’s genocide libel
The Israeli academic Omer Bartov may be the most prominent scholar currently making genocide accusations against Israel. His new book, Israel: What Went Wrong, will no doubt enhance his reputation in this regard.Since 1989, Bartov has been on the faculty at Brown University, where, he says, he is a historian specializing in Holocaust and genocide studies. But as his book shows, since joining American academia, he has become more of a propagandist, displaying the anti-Israel bias typical of today’s college campuses.For example, adopting the popular jargon of that milieu, he writes that the Jewish state amounts to “a settler-colonial takeover of land and resources from the indigenous Palestinian population.” He views the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023 as “indigenous resistance,” arguing that it “cannot be understood without taking into account the larger historical context” and “the growing despair of the population in the Gaza Strip.”Having spent part of his…
Brown University academic Omer Bartov is criticized for his use of the term “genocide” against Israel, particularly in his new book, Israel: What Went Wrong. The article argues that Bartov employs the term as a rhetorical tool rather than a legal definition, despite acknowledging its legal nature. Critics contend that Bartov selectively quotes Israeli officials and ignores the precise legal definition of genocide, which requires intent to destroy a group. The article highlights that Israel's military actions in Gaza, including extensive precautions to minimize civilian casualties, contradict claims of genocidal intent. Historian Jeffrey Herf states that Bartov writes as a polemicist, not a historian, failing to provide evidence of official Israeli intent to destroy the Palestinian people and ignoring the existential threat Hamas poses to Israel.
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