"This Is What Genocide Looks Like"
Israeli Holocaust scholar Amos Goldberg urges the world to confront the reality of Gaza's destruction.
It’s easy to hesitate when using words like genocide or ethnic cleansing—they are powerful terms that carry immense weight and should not be used lightly. Misusing such language risks diminishing its meaning, but refusing to use it when faced with undeniable evidence is equally dangerous. There comes a time when we must call things what they are, no matter how difficult it may be.
Amos Goldberg, an Israeli professor of Holocaust studies, has spent nearly 30 years studying some of history’s darkest moments. He knows better than most the responsibility that comes with speaking out against injustice. Yet, when confronted with the reality of what is happening in Gaza, he refuses to turn away. Instead, he faces it head-on and has the courage to call it by its name. His words are a challenge to all of us: to see the truth, acknowledge it, and act before it is too late.
“My name is Amos Goldberg. I am an Israeli Professor of Holocaust Studies. For nearly 30 years I have researched and taught the Holocaust, genocide and state violence.
And I want to tell whoever is willing to listen that what’s happening now in Gaza is a genocide.
A year ago when October 7th happened, like all Israelis I was in shock. It was a war crime and a crime against humanity. 1200 people - more than 800 of them civilians - were killed in one day. Children and the elderly were among those taken hostage. Communities were destroyed. It was outrageous, traumatizing, personal. Like most Israelis, I know people who were killed, who lost loved ones or whose loved ones were taken hostage.
But immediately afterwards came Israel’s response and within weeks thousands of civilians were killed in Gaza. It took me some time to digest what was unfolding before my eyes. It was agonizing to confront that reality. I was reluctant to call it a genocide.
But if you read Raphael Lemkin – the Jewish-Polish legal scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ and was the major driving force behind the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention – what is happening in Gaza now is exactly what he had in mind when he spoke about genocide.
It does not need to look like the Holocaust to be a genocide. Each genocide looks different and not all involve killing of millions or the entire group. The United Nations Genocide Convention explicitly asserts that genocide is the act of deliberately destroying a group in whole or in part. Those are the words.
But there does need to be a clear intent.
And indeed, there are clear indications of intent to destroy Gaza: Israel’s leaders - including the prime minister and the minister of defence - and many high-ranking military officers, media personalities, rabbis, as well as ordinary soldiers were very open about what they wanted to achieve. There were countless documented incitements to turn the whole of Gaza into rubble and claims that there are no innocent people living there.
A radical atmosphere of dehumanization of the Palestinians prevails in Israeli society to an extent that I can’t remember in my 58 years of living here.
Now that vision has been enacted. Tens of thousands of innocent children, women and men have been killed. Over a hundred thousand were wounded. There is a near total destruction of infrastructure, intentional starvation and blocking of humanitarian aid. There are mass graves and reliable testimony of summary executions. Children that were shot by snipers. All the universities and almost all hospitals are gone. Almost all the population is displaced. There have been numerous bombings of civilians in so-called ‘safe zones’. Gaza does not exist anymore. It is completely destroyed. Thus, the outcome fits perfectly with the stated intentions of Israel’s leadership.
Lemkin - that scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ - described two phases of a genocide. The first is the destruction of the annihilated group and the second is what he called ‘imposition of the national pattern’ of the perpetrator. We are now witnessing the second phase as Israel prepares ethnically cleansed areas for Israeli settlements.
And therefore, I have come to the conclusion that this is exactly what a genocide looks like. We don’t teach about genocides in order to realize it retrospectively. We teach about it in order to prevent it and to stop it.
But like in every other case of genocide in history right now we have mass denial. Both here in Israel and around the world.
But reality cannot be denied.
So yes, it is a genocide. And once you come to this conclusion you cannot remain silent.”
Professor Goldberg’s message is clear: staying silent in the face of genocide makes us complicit. History has shown us that denial and indifference allow atrocities to continue unchecked. Speaking up is not just a moral obligation—it is the only way to honour those who have suffered and prevent future crimes against humanity.
It takes courage to confront the uncomfortable truth, especially when it challenges deeply held beliefs or narratives. But refusing to acknowledge the reality of genocide only perpetuates the suffering of its victims and emboldens its perpetrators. Silence, in such moments, is not neutrality—it is complicity.
The words “Never again” carry a promise to protect all people from such horrors, or it should, no matter who they are or where they live. That promise is meaningless if we let exceptions slip through. It is our shared responsibility to ensure that “Never again” truly means never again for anyone, anywhere.
All articles on Diaspora Dialogue are free to read for one year from publication. If you’ve enjoyed this piece and would like to support my work, you can do so by subscribing, or by buying me a coffee. Thank you for reading and being part of the dialogue!
Article Series Zionism
