“In this war, only one side intended to commit genocide, and that is Hamas,” the letter states.
By Shula Rosen
More than 5,000 political leaders, scholars, entertainers, business figures and religious leaders joined an open letter released in Los Angeles on Sept. 9 rejecting accusations that Israel committed genocide in Gaza and warning that the charge is fueling antisemitism worldwide.
Creative Community for Peace released the letter in partnership with Yossi Klein Halevi, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, Rabbi Micha Odenheimer and Professor Jonathan Karp.
Signatories include former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Canadian Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler, historians Sir Niall Ferguson and Benny Morris, Harvard professor Steven Pinker and Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, former US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
Entertainment figures who signed include former Paramount Global Chair Shari Redstone, former Paramount Pictures CEO Sherry Lansing and actors Debra Messing, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anthony Edwards, Mayim Bialik, Dame Maureen Lipman, Patricia Heaton and Jerry O’Connell.
The Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee also support the letter.
The signatories acknowledge legitimate debate over Israel’s conduct during the war and express pain over civilian deaths but argue that those issues do not establish genocide.
They point to the 1948 Genocide Convention’s requirement of “specific intent” to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
“A crucial difference between war as tragedy and war as genocide is intent. In this war, only one side intended to commit genocide, and that is Hamas,” the letter states.
The initiative follows a report by the UN Human Rights Council’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry accusing Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian children as evidence of “genocidal intent.”
The letter argues that genocide accusations have contributed to the exclusion, harassment and violence directed at Jews internationally.
“We will not allow this lie to stand,” it concludes.
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