For nearly two years, the war between Israel and Hamas has been framed in the starkest moral terms. Activists, NGOs, and even governments have accused Israel of genocide against the people of Gaza. The word “genocide” carries immense legal and moral weight — it evokes Rwanda, the Holocaust, the deliberate attempt to wipe out an entire people. But when a term this powerful is misapplied, it loses its meaning.
A new, in-depth study from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, authored by historians, military analysts, and legal scholars, takes a hard look at the genocide allegations and finds them built on sand. The report’s aim is not to excuse Israel’s mistakes or downplay suffering in Gaza — but to sift fact from fiction.