International justice confronts the genocide of Srebrenica
However, the judges attributed responsibility for the acts to individual officers, not to Serbia itself. Belgrade was nonetheless found guilty of failing to prevent the genocide and punish its perpetrators. At the time, General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb military and political leaders, were still on the run, evading arrest warrants from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
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Euronews
15 hours ago
- Euronews
There is no clear intent to commit genocide in Gaza, law expert says
A growing number of top government officials, NGOs and academics in the West are ready to claim that Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza amounts to genocide. But some law experts have raised alarms about the risks of using the term, which is perceived as "the crime of crimes", without a proper definition or legal proof. They say there is so far no concrete evidence of Israel committing genocide as defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, of which Israel is a signatory. 'Israel is committing the war crime of using hunger as a weapon of war, which is prohibited under international law,' said Stefan Talmon, a prominent international law professor at the University of Bonn. 'But there is a difference between war crime and the crime of genocide.' No clear genocide intent so far First coined by the Jewish-Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, the word 'genocide' is defined under the 1948 Convention as a set of five crimes 'committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.' Those crimes include 'Killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.' The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza started after Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on 7 October 2023 in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage. Fifty hostages are still being held, although fewer than half of them are believed to be alive. Since then, UN agencies have warned that Israel's airstrikes on Gaza, along with a siege of the territory, have resulted in the deaths of more than 60,000 people, the forced displacement of tens of thousands and growing evidence of man-caused mass starvation. In December 2023, South Africa started proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for alleged violations of the 1948 Convention, arguing that 'acts and omissions by Israel ... are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent ... to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.' A year later, Amnesty International became one of the first international NGOs to conclude in a report that 'there is sufficient evidence to believe that Israel's conduct in Gaza following 7 October 2023 amounts to genocide.' More recently, B'Tselem, a prominent Israeli NGO also stated that Israel's policy in the Gaza Strip 'together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack,' led to the conclusion that 'Israel is taking coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip.' In a separate interview, genocide and Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov told Euronews that he had labelled Israel's military campaign a genocide in May 2024, when the Israeli army decided to flatten Rafah after ordering its residents to evacuate the city in the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, and moving them to Mawasi – a coastal area with almost no shelter. But for an international law expert and barrister like Talmon, there is no sufficient proof of a clear intent to commit genocide in Israel so far, and it will be 'very difficult' for South Africa or any other country to prove that Israel is committing genocide. 'It's not just that you are killing people as such and you deliberately kill someone,' Talmon said. 'You have to kill the person because you want to destroy the group he is a part of, in whole or in part.' 'That does not necessarily mean that you would have to kill the group in whole, or in part,' Talmon continued. 'We have seen convictions of individuals for genocide where just one person has been killed … You don't need 6 million people dead like the Holocaust to have genocide.' The proof is either 'direct evidence,' he said, like a decision of the Israeli security cabinet which would 'spell out that the cabinet wants to basically exterminate the Palestinian people.' But the ICJ can also require indirect evidence by which 'you may basically infer the intention to destroy in whole or in part from a certain pattern of action.' In addition, he said, there must be 'no other inference than can be drawn from the fact than the intention to destroy.' The example of Srebrenica Talmon pointed to the genocide in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995, which resulted in the systematic execution of more than 8,000 Bosniaks, mostly men and boys. Despite a number of cases of genocide brought against Bosnian Serb military and political leadership for crimes in different parts of the country, the ICJ ruled that it was committed only in Srebrenica. 'The (Bosnian) Serbs separated women and children from men and started, within a short period of time, to kill (thousands of) men of all ages, from 16 to basically 65 or 75, irrespective of whether these were soldiers or whether these were civilians,' he said. 'Now in that situation, the International Court of Justice said: what other explanation can you give for that mass killing within these kind of two days other than to destroy in whole or in part, the Bosnian Muslims in that area and exterminate them?' 'We haven't had any such situation in the Gaza Strip,' Talmon added. Crime against humanity versus genocide Without indisputable, direct or indirect evidence of the intention to destroy, Israel could be prosecuted on charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity, Talmon said. Under UN rules, the term 'war crimes' refers to violations of international humanitarian law 'committed against civilians or enemy combatants during an international or domestic armed conflict." A crime against humanity refers to a series of crimes 'committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack." 'The Israeli action, of course, could also be explained in many other ways,' Talmon said. 'Beginning from the fight against Hamas to rescuing the hostages, it could be by mere brutality, retaliation, vengeance, ethnic cleansing,' he explained. There is a multitude of other explanations for Israeli actions, so it will be very difficult to say because the Israelis are using excessive force, they are driving Palestinians to the south of the Gaza Strip, they are confining them to very specific areas, they are basically reducing the available food and water and medical supplies to them," Talmon continued. "That may all be explained by other motives.' Despite the absence of clear evidence or compliance with the high standards of genocide, Talmon concluded that such a verdict would carry devastating effects for the Israelis, many of whom are survivors or children of survivors of the Holocaust. 'If you find that Israel is committing genocide or that Germany committed genocide, It's not just the present government that will be seen as a génocidaire,' Talmon said, using the French word for perpetrator of genocide. 'It is the whole people," he stated. "The Israelis become perpetrators … The Germans have become perpetrators.' Founded in 1945, the ICJ has issued genocide verdicts in a handful of cases against individuals, and is yet to rule against any country for genocide. Genocide cases in front of international courts are an arduous endeavour, often taking over a decade to see through until a verdict is reached. Israel has vehemently rejected all allegations of a genocidal campaign in Gaza, in turn stating that its actions are meant to disempower and destroy Hamas. It has also repeatedly accused the militant group of intentionally endangering the lives of Palestinians by using them as human shields, while saying that it has done all in its power to prevent civilian losses.
AFP
2 days ago
- AFP
Montreal basilica did not chime bells to discourage praying Muslims
"In an attempt to intimidate Catholics, Muslims held a 'prayer service' in front of the Cathedral in Montreal. This was the Cathedral's response...," claims the caption of a July 24, 2025 Instagram video. In the clip, participants accompanied by a Palestinian flag kneel and rise in a public square as loud church bells silence most of the other noise in the footage. Different versions of the claim that the video shows the iconic Montreal basilica deliberately drowning out the Muslim prayer also spread on Facebook, X and TikTok. Image Screenshot of an Instagram post taken July 29, 2025 Image Screenshot of an X post taken July 29, 2025 The proportion of Muslims in the Canadian population more than doubled from 2001-2021 (archived here), creating tensions over how to accommodate requests to pray during the school or work day. In December 2024, Quebec Premier François Legault said he wants to ban praying in public, commenting that he wanted to send a "message to Islamists." The Canadian Muslim Forum said the threatened ban "unfairly targets Quebecers, especially those of Muslim faith, based solely on their backgrounds" (archived here). Some rabbis criticized the proposal, while Catholic bishops in the province panned the move to restrict public expression of faith in a letter saying "praying is not dangerous" (archived here and here). The posts claiming the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal deliberately rang its bells to put a stop to the Muslim prayer in front of its establishment are inaccurate. A basilica spokesman told AFP the demonstration did not trigger the striking of the bells, which he said automatically chime every hour on the hour. "The basilica is not involved in these gatherings, which are a legitimate exercise of freedom of expression in an emblematic public space of Montreal," the spokesman said in a July 29 email. The Canadian Press reported one of the earliest versions of the clip uploaded to social media claimed the footage was taken on June 8 at around 6 pm (2200 GMT). Six o'clock is the final hour the bells are struck each day, ending the schedule with a more complex flurry of rings, according to the basilica's website (archived here). Rather than a consistent chiming, the bells heard in the video circulating on social media are more frenetic. The Canadian Press fact-check also noted a protest advertised by the advocacy group Montreal4Palestine took place on June 8 within walking distance of the church (archived here and here). AFP reached out to the organization for a comment but did not receive a response. AFP previously fact-checked claims misrepresenting Muslim beliefs and engagement with pro-Palestinian advocacy in Canada.
LeMonde
5 days ago
- LeMonde
Is there a genocide in Gaza? Why legal experts are split
Historians will provide their interpretation at some point in the future. But what about legal experts? When it comes to the question of whether a genocide is underway or has been committed by Israel against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, nearly all of them have an opinion. They have clashed in opinion pieces published in newspapers and scholarly journal articles. The debate had already been simmering for several months, but with a single sentence, President Emmanuel Macron brought it out into the open in the French public debate. On the evening of May 13, during an interview on broadcaster TF1, journalist Gilles Bouleau abruptly asked the head of state: "Does what is currently happening in Gaza constitute genocide?" Clearly prepared and looking solemn, the president answered without hesitation: "It is not for a political leader to use those terms; that is up to historians, in due time." The president neither endorsed nor condemned the use of the word "genocide." However, by deferring responsibility to historians and the passage of time, he appeared to overlook the fact that several legal proceedings are already underway, both before French courts and before relevant international bodies – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), both based in The Hague, Netherlands. Genocide brought up soon after October 7, 2023 The question of genocide and Gaza is not just a matter for historians to address through archival research. Above all, it is the domain of law experts – prosecutors, investigating judges, and lawyers – who are working directly on complaints, lawsuits, and appeals that have already been filed. For instance, the French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office, which is responsible for investigating cases of torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, requested in May that a probe be opened following a complaint for "complicity in genocide" and "direct incitement to genocide." This complaint had been filed against French-Israeli activists who obstructed the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Only the investigation will determine whether there was complicity, and therefore a genocide, but this process could take several years.
