How Jewish scholars are attacked in America for calling out Gaza genocide
'From the moment Israel was created, there's this idea that it is unimaginable that it can perpetrate any crime under international law, let alone genocide.'
US-Israeli genocide scholar Raz Segal was the first academic to label Israel's war on Gaza a 'textbook case of genocide' in 2023. But that also came with a price.
The prominent Israeli-American historian delves into the context, the intense backlash faced by Jewish scholars who speak out, and the implications for international law and human rights.
Segal is currently the associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University.
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Middle East Eye
44 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel attack on Iran prompts widespread support and alarm at home
Senior Israeli military officials have hailed an 'historic event', as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that overnight attacks launched on Iran were intended to 'roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival'. Israeli security forces carried out dozens of attacks on targets across Iran as part of an operation named 'Rising Lion', which has received support from across the political spectrum in Israel. Iranian civilians, the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the army's chief of staff, senior members of Iran's security forces and six nuclear scientists were among those killed in the strikes. 'We targeted Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran's ballistic missile programme,' Netanyahu said. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has vowed to respond with force. "With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see,' Khamenei wrote on social media. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Israel's military says that it has successfully intercepted the 100 Iranian drones that have been launched at Israel thus far. "We are in a historic event. The air force has launched a historic pre-emptive attack, and we will remove this existential threat to the State of Israel,' senior Israeli military officials told the news outlet Ynet. 'This is not an operation, this is a planned war in the form of a dangerous move 1,500kms from home. We don't go to war without the entire State of Israel together,' the officials said. 'Draw attention from Gaza' But Ori Goldberg, an expert on Iran at the Forum for Regional Thinking, an Israeli think tank at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, said the Israeli attack was carried out without a clear objective. "The main goal is to draw attention from what is happening in Gaza, where a complete internet blackout has been imposed, and from the West Bank, where Israel has imposed a complete siege,' Goldberg told Middle East Eye. 'The Israeli attack is an attempt to declare that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want. Israel is testing the world's reaction." 'The Israeli attack is an attempt to declare that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want. Israel is testing the world's reaction' - Ori Goldberg, Israeli expert on Iran Goldberg said he thought the wide-ranging assault on Iran was 'intended to test whether Israel still holds total international immunity for its actions. This total immunity may disappear.' According to Yedioth Ahronoth's senior military correspondent, Ron Ben-Yishai, who receives briefings from the Israeli army: 'The intention of the operation is not only to hit the nuclear facilities.' The veteran correspondent wrote that the attacks were designed to 'hit the Iranian regime to the point of toppling it. Israel claims that only if the regime falls, Israel will be free of an Iranian nuclear weapon." But, according to Goldberg, the "attack on Iran cannot topple the regime, where there is no sufficiently organised opposition. The attack could have the opposite effect, in which the reformist forces would stand behind the regime in light of the Israeli attack." Raz Zimmt, an Iran expert at the INSS, an Israeli research institute, who works closely with former army officials, echoed Goldberg's words. "The desire to topple the Iranian regime by hitting some of the security and military leadership, as severe as it may be, is unrealistic," Zimmt wrote on the Channel 12 news site. Widespread support in Israel for attacks The attacks on Iran have been praised across the political spectrum in Israel. Yair Golan, a former army officer and leader of the centre-left Democrats party, wrote on his X account: 'A strong people, a determined army and a strong home front. That's how we've always won, and that's how we'll win today. "I reinforce the hands of the pilots, fighters, commanders and all IDF [Israeli army] soldiers who are working with determination and dedication for our security." 'There are lines and madness. People are afraid to stay away from home' - CEO of Israeli supermarket chain Yair Lapid, head of the Israeli opposition, also expressed support for the operation. "Iran declared war on Israel a long time ago, and now it is facing the consequences,' Lapid wrote on X. "I fully support the objectives of the operation and our security forces. The opposition will provide whatever assistance is needed to ensure the success of the mission." The attacks have also been greeted with alarm, though. In their wake, the Israeli Home Front Command instructed citizens to remain near a protected area, due to fears of an Iranian response. This directive was lifted only towards Friday afternoon, local time. The Home Front Command also ordered the cancellation of school throughout the country, a ban on gathering in public spaces, restrictions on workplace activity, and a complete closure of Israel's airspace. "Rockets weighing half a tonne or even a tonne will fall here, but this is the price we must pay so that our children can continue to live here," a senior army official told Ynet. Shops stocking up There have been huge lines at supermarkets across Israel and convenience stores are trying to stock up before a possible Iranian response. Israel's attack on Iran: How the world reacted Read More » "There are lines and madness. People are afraid to stay away from home," said one CEO of a large supermarket chain in Israel, adding that there has been an increase of many hundreds of percent in purchases at the chain's branches since Friday morning. "While there is support and euphoria in Israel following the attack on Iran, there is also a very great fear of the Iranian response," Goldberg told Middle East Eye. "There is also a lack of trust in the government." The former deputy head of the National Security Council, Eran Etzion, wrote that Netanyahu "was looking for an excuse to go to this war, for personal and political reasons that every Israeli and every international player understands very well. "There is a grave concern that a 'historic operational opportunity,' and the need to forget 7 October and the failed war in Gaza have set the tone for the senior professional ranks as well," Etzion posted on social media, referring to concerns that Israeli security forces have aligned with Netanyahu's demands. Goldberg said that 'for Netanyahu, there is no longer a difference between holding his grip on power and Israel's foreign policy interests. He thinks they are synonymous. 'The army is also benefiting from the attack on Iran, after experiencing a sharp decline in support in Israel,' he said. 'Moving the military conflict away from Israel's borders, as was done in Yemen, helps the army regain support in its capabilities.'
Middle East Eye
44 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel attacks Iran: Trump hails ‘excellent' strikes, warns more to come
Donald Trump has described Israel's Friday morning attacks on Iran as "excellent" and warned Iran that things will get worse if the country does not agree to a nuclear deal with the United States. Israel launched a huge attack on Iran in the early hours of Friday, targeting nuclear facilities, military commanders and scientists. "I think it's been excellent. We gave them a chance and they didn't take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you're going to get hit. And there's more to come. A lot more," Trump was quoted as saying by an ABC reporter. Earlier on social media, Trump wrote: "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done." Implying that he had been aware of the attacks ahead of time, Trump said that he told Iran that 'it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told'. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters He said he told officials that the US 'makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR,' adding that Israel had a lot of those weapons with more to come. 'And they know how to use it,' said Trump. 'Certain Iranian hardliner's [sic] spoke bravely, but they didn't know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and will only get worse.' The strikes killed Hossein Salami, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the country's armed forces, and Gholam Ali Rashid, the deputy commander of the Iranian armed forces. Several nuclear scientists were also killed. Who are the Iranian military chiefs and scientists killed by Israel? Read More » Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed in his own posts on social media that Washington was not involved in the strikes, but an Israeli official quoted by Israeli state broadcaster Kan said that Israel fully coordinated its attack with the White House. The unnamed official also told Kan that recent reports of rifts between Israel and Washington were false, but had not been denied as part of a media ruse to confuse Iran. Trump also said in his posts that while there had already been 'great death and destruction', there was still time to stop the 'even more brutal' attacks to come. 'Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. 'No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,' he said. Josh Paul, who resigned from the State Department in October 2023 over continued US arms sales to Israel and has since co-founded political action committee A New Policy, said on Friday that Trump's statements placed US interests in harms way. "President Trump's 'statement' on social media this morning strikes me precisely as an attempt not to look weak in light of Netanyahu's decision to ignore Trump's public request for Israel not to strike Iran," Paul said on Friday. "It runs directly counter to Secretary Rubio's tweet that the US was not involved, and it places US troops and assets at absolutely unnecessary risk, again placing our interests behind those of Netanyahu." Retaliatory attacks Iran fired more than 100 drones towards Israel on Friday in retaliation to the strikes. In response, Israeli army spokesperson Effie Defrin said that "all [aerial] defence arrays have been operating to intercept the threats.' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday morning's attack was aimed at "rolling back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival," adding that it would take "many days". "We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme," Netanyahu said in a recorded televised address. Israel's attack on Iran: How the world reacted Read More » "We targeted Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran's ballistic missile programme." In addition to top senior military commanders and key nuclear scientists killed in the attacks, Iranian state television reported that children had also been killed in at least one of the air strikes, on a residential area of Tehran. Nour News reported several "loud explosions" in and around Tehran, adding that the country's air defence system was on full alert, and all flights at Imam Khomeini international airport had been suspended. The attacks come one day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN watchdog which monitors Iran's nuclear programme, said that Iran was not complying with its nonproliferation obligations. Iran said in response that it planned to open a new enrichment facility, and said the IAEA's statement called into question the organisation's credibility. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful and denies seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel's attack on Iran: What do we know so far?
Israel's attack on Iran in the early hours of Friday marks the most severe attack on the Islamic Republic since the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. International observers, analysts, energy monitors, politicians and ordinary people in Iran and Israel are still scrabbling to come to terms with the significance of the operation, branded "Rising Lion" by Israel. The fear among regional leaders, in particular, is that the escalation of the conflict between the two longstanding rivals could draw in neighbouring countries. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has expressed concern over potential radioactive contamination as a result of the strikes on nuclear facilities. With events still unfolding, Middle East Eye takes a look at what we know so far. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters What happened? At around 3.30am local time (12am GMT) on Friday, explosions were heard around Tehran, as the first Israeli barrage struck the capital. State TV said residential areas were hit, with blasts also heard northeast of the capital. The Israeli military said it had targeted "dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran". Hours later, an explosion was reported at the Natanz nuclear facility, about 225km south of the capital, with the IAEA confirming it had been struck. In response, Iran launched around 100 drones at Israel, which were reportedly intercepted. Hours later, a further attack was reported by Iranian state media on the northwestern city of Tabriz. The US has described the attacks as "unilateral" and said it was not involved. Who has been killed? Israel's attack has killed a range of senior military figures and nuclear scientists, as well as a number of civilians, who state media said included women and children. Who are the Iranian military chiefs and scientists killed by Israel? Read More » Military leaders killed included the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) chief Hossein Salami, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri, and IRGC Major-General Gholam Ali Rashid. State media said nuclear scientist Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani was killed along with his wife and child, as were Abdulhamid Minouchehr, a faculty member and dean of the Faculty of Nuclear Engineering at Shahid Beheshti University, and Ahmadreza Zolfaghari, a professor at the same department. The Israeli army later announced it had also killed IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, along with UAV Force Commander Taher-pour, Aerial Command Commander Davoud Shaykhian. How did we get here Israel has long expressed alarm about the development of Iran's nuclear programme, which the Islamic Republic has been working on for decades. Although the Iranian government says it is only developing its nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes, Israel and the US accuse the country of trying to develop nuclear weapons. UK not defending Israel against Iran's drone attack, government says Read More » In 2018, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that his predecessor Barack Obama had negotiated with Iran to limit the country's nuclear programme. Both Trump's successor, Joe Biden, and Trump himself, now again in office, have attempted to restart negotiations towards another deal with Iran over its nuclear programme. Though talks between the Trump administration and Iran are nominally ongoing this week, there has been little indication of success. On Thursday, the IAEA said Iran was in a state of "non-compliance with its obligations" under its international agreements. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been increasingly belligerent in targeting regional leaders he says are backed by Iran since the beginning of the war on Gaza in October 2023, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh last year, the latter in the Iranian capital Tehran. Iran launched two operations last year, in April and October, against Israel in response to their attacks, neither resulting in casualties. With tensions rising, the US ordered its diplomatic staff to start evacuating bases across the region in recent days. How has the world responded to the attack? Trump used the attack as an opportunity to pressure Iran into accepting a deal at talks due to take place on Sunday.
