Academics publish open letter saying Israeli actions fit 'legal and criminological definitions' of genocide

A group of academics and experts on state crime have said that Israel's past actions and its current action in Gaza fit the 'legal and criminological definitions' of genocide.

The letter, initiated by the International State Crime Initiative and currently featuring 11 signatures, said Israel's response to Hamas attacks on 7 October was "disproportionate" and said Palestine was seeing a "second Nakba".

"Israel’s actions in Gaza and historic actions against the Palestinian people fit both legal and criminological definitions of the crime," reads the letter.

"As Raphael Lemkin, the author of the term genocide wrote, genocide is not limited to spectacularised acts of mass killings but includes ‘a coordinated plan aimed at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups.'"