Zionist lobbying group in US says Gaza war is “genocide”

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a leading liberal American Jewish advocacy and lobbying group, has publicly stated his conviction that “Israel's” war in Gaza constitutes a genocide.

This marks a significant and emotionally resonant shift for an organization that has long identified as "pro-Israel and pro-peace".

The group also identifies itself as Zionist.

In a recent Substack post, Ben-Ami explained that while the term "genocide" carries deep personal pain due to its association with the Holocaust for his family, he has been "persuaded rationally by legal and scholarly arguments that international courts will one day find that Israel has broken the international genocide convention".

He added, "I cannot and will not argue any more against those using the term. I simply won't defend the indefensible".

J Street's previous stance had rejected the genocide allegation, citing the "stringent standard" required for such a legal finding and stating it did "not expect such a finding against Israel".

However, this evolution follows internal dissent, with some staff departures reportedly linked to the organization's initial "lack of support for a ceasefire" and "pro-war stance" after October 7, 2023.

J Street became one of the most prominent Jewish American groups to use the term Genocide.

The legal definition of genocide, codified in the 1948 UN Convention, requires acts committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has recognized Palestinians as a protected group and found genocide accusations in Gaza "plausible," issuing provisional measures to prevent genocidal acts.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic, with 1.9 million Palestinians displaced and the entire population facing severe food insecurity, with nearly half a million at risk of famine.

Over 60,000 Palestinians have been reportedly killed, with a high proportion being women and children, and over 90% of homes damaged or destroyed.

UN experts and aid organizations have accused Israel of "wielding starvation as a weapon of war" and systematically destroying civilian infrastructure.