Head of US-based pro-Israel group acknowledges Israel breaking genocide convention in Gaza

ISTANBUL

The president of J Street, a US-based pro-Israel advocacy group, has acknowledged that Israel has broken the international genocide convention in the Gaza Strip.

"I have ... been persuaded rationally by legal and scholarly arguments that international courts will one day find that Israel has broken the international genocide convention," Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote Sunday in a blog post.

Ben-Ami described the realization as deeply personal, asking: "How can it be that Israel – the state founded by a people who experienced genocide – could itself be committing this most heinous of crimes?"

He said for some in the Jewish community it is "inconceivable," and an "outrage" to even raise the question.

He cited specific Israeli practices, including denying food and necessities of life to civilians, soldiers shooting at civilians trying to get food and the destruction of the entire infrastructure of Gaza as actions with no justification.

He said Israel is "forcing the population into intolerably small areas" and "hoping to create the conditions under which an entire population will be forcibly displaced."

"Until now, I have tried to deflect and defend when challenged to call this genocide," said the president of one of the largest pro-Israel groups in Washington, acknowledging his previous stance.

Despite a personal reluctance to use “genocide” because of family history, he added: "I cannot and will not argue any more against those using the term. I simply won't defend the indefensible."

Ben-Ami believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others in his government will be held accountable in the courts, and although the courts will only apply the law, they will be considered antisemitic by Jewish organizations.

"This government and these leaders will be remembered with revulsion for the horrors they’ve overseen," he wrote.

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 61,000 Palestinians, almost half of them women and children. Israel’s military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.