2/15 Is it GENOCIDE? YES, says the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). NO!, disagree hundreds of scholars in a hastily organized Scholars for Truth About Genocide (STAG) petition, countering the IAGS resolution.

3/15 But though distributed by Israel's Foreign Ministry (sic), the STAG petition itself is… funny. For example: in order to prove that early on, Israel "tightened its proportionality assessments" to reduce civilian harm, it provides a link that leads to...

4/15 ... to a NYT item with a literally opposite statement. The NYT headline, while giving Israel the rare active voice, reads: “Israel LOOSENED Its Rules to Bomb Hamas Fighters, Killing Many More Civilians.” Direct contradiction.

5/15 The subheadline drives the point home even harder: “Surprised by Oct. 7 and fearful of another attack, Israel weakened safeguards meant to protect noncombatants, allowing officers to endanger up to 20 people in each airstrike.”

6/15 In short, here, the petition claims the clear opposite of the source it cites. Hundreds of scholars signing doesn’t erase that contradiction – it even worsens it, showing respected academics endorsed an embarrassing document. And this isn’t a single mishap. See further,

7/15 in the same STAG petition: “The IAGS resolution further cites the issuance of arrest warrants by the ICC for PM Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, while ignoring that the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber expressly REJECTED the warrants for the crime of extermination.”

8/15 The words “expressly REJECTED” in the statement are linked to the ICC press release: “ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I REJECTS the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.”

9/15 "Rejecting" is indeed mentioned in the ICC document ONLY in the context of REJECTING Israel's arguments. As for the STAG "extermination" quote in the STAG document - it's there. but the ICC document continues:

10/15 "However, the Chamber did find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of murder was committed in relation to these victims." So, rejecting the extermination warrant, STAG scholars ended up with a mass murder instead. Oy!

11/15 What's happening here? Someone didn't take the time to read the petition: either its signers, or the Israeli Foreign Office which distributed it. Or both.

12/15 But many others rejected the IAGS resolution! "The genocide allegation has been soundly and PERSUASIVELY rejected by leading scholars, retired western military authorities, war crimes prosecutors, and other observers". Let's see: who are those other observers?

13/15 Well, well, it's Bret Stephens, a columnist. In his bio, he describes his ideology, ending with "I also think it’s healthy to be able to change your mind and to say so publicly — as I have about Trump voters and climate change." What?

14/15 Yes, Stephens was anti-Trump before the 2020 elections, pro-Trump in 2022, again a vocal anti-Trumper before the 2024 the election... and switched to pro-Trump after. A conservative columnist called him "a snake in the grass". Now... that's what I call "persuasive"! END

15/15 All emphasis / all-cap words are mine.

@metaknim איזה הזוי לא רק בשקרים, אלא גם בזה שזה בכלל לא איזה אירגון מסודר

@zviadover זהו, שאצל חוקרי שואה האיגוד הבינלאומי המוביל הוא לא איגוד מקצועי אלא איגוד של מדינות, IHRA.