HAARETZ | Opinions / November 3, 2023 by Nimrod Aloni I doubt there is a single Israeli, Jew or Arab, who does not ask himself these days the distressing question of how someone can become a bloodthirsty and murderous Hamas member. How does a human being consciously and with great enthusiasm go on a monstrous
We are pleased to welcome a new center for research of genocide in Israel. Ariel University in Israel has established a Center for the Study and Research of Genocide under the direction of Hilly Moodrick-Even Khan, a senior lecturer of public international law in the Department of Economics and Business Administration in the University. In
Richard G. Hovannisian was a titan in the field of Armenian Studies – an academic discipline that he shaped with his groundbreaking scholarship and professionalism. He passed away this week, at the age of 90, leaving behind a legacy that is impossible to capture. He lived the life of a public intellectual. He became a
On the occasion of the Zoryan Institute’s 40th Anniversary, once a month we will be highlighting one of our ZI Heroes. Not only have these individuals made invaluable contributions to the Institute and its mission, but they have also left their mark on the field of Genocide and Human Rights Studies. November 17, 2022: The
The Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide Jerusalem regrets deeply to announce the death of pioneering veteran genocide scholar, Dr. Helen Fein, and salutes her memory as a great leader of genocide scholarship. Helen was actively in contact with us beginning with her participation in the First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide which
The following is a report and analysis by Haaretz reporter, David Stavrou, who resides in Sweden, and writes for the paper both in Hebrew and in English. His statement not only reports facts but evokes emotions about the horrors of genocide; conveys so clearly the widespread occurrences of many genocides in our unhuman human world; brings
Armenian Studies at the Hebrew University The following represents the personal views of a group of Israeli scholars of Caucasian and associated studies from different institutions of higher learning, and does not reflect the positions of the Hebrew University nor its Armenian Studies Program. We the undersigned write to express our deep concern with the
The following article was written by Alex Galitsky and published in the Jerusalem Post on July 21, 2020. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/azerbaijan-is-not-a-true-friend-of-israel-635729 Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey and fellow denier of the Armenian Genocide, has actively sought the eradication of the region’s indigenous Armenian inhabitants and traces of their millennia-old civilization. Azerbaijan’s burgeoning relationship with Israel has
Ed. Note: Because of the Corona pandemic, many of the activities of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide Jerusalem were necessarily postponed. We particularly regret that our website did not join in a more timely fashion in reporting the wonderful, history-making news of recognition of the Armenian Genocide – and so overwhelmingly – by
The new Dallas (Texas) Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, which opened in September 2019, includes a “Genocide Gallery.” The museum was designed by Edward Jacobs and Michael Berenbaum (Berenbaum Jacobs Associates). Jacobs is a gifted creative designer who lives in Jerusalem and is partnered with Berenbaum who is widely known and respected for his having
by Israel W. Charny An excellent conference has been held in Athens, Greece, December 6-8, entitled “International Conference on the Crime of Genocide.” The conference, which was sponsored by the Pan-Pontian organization of Greece which sports a remarkable 450 or so branches in Greece and around the world, was dedicated on the one hand to
Overwhelming Bipartisan Passage of Armenian Genocide Resolution Reflects the Best of America Rouben Adalian October 29, 2019 http://bit.ly/2q2MeTY WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Armenian Genocide resolution, H.Res.296, was adopted today by an overwhelming favorable bipartisan vote of 405 to 11 in the U.S. House of Representatives, reported the Armenian Assembly of America. “The passage of
On September 19, 2019, I posted on the IAGS listserv excerpts from an article by Daniella Peled, who is identified as “Managing Editor of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting,” in Haaretz English Edition on August 16, 2019. At the same time I reported that we were unable to recover the Haaretz article from
Estricher, Noa (September 9, 2019). Genocide: Five Books on Genocide. Haaretz Book Review (Hebrew). An interview of Yair Auron in Hebrew with reference to five books on genocide in Hebrew: Franz Werfel, 40 Days of Musa Dag; Ora Achimeier, Araratim; Ambassador Morgenthau’s Diary, Israel Charny, Genocide -“And You Shall Destroy the Evil Inside of You”: We
June 25, 2019 BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN http://www.thecaliforniacourier.com/un-sends-a-stunning-letter-questioning-turkey-on-the-armenian-genocide/ Twenty-nine years ago the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities adopted a report acknowledging the Armenian Genocide as a case of genocide. Until recently, there has been no other activity at the UN on this issue. Unexpectedly, on March 25, a surprising letter
Djulfa is a site in Azerbaijan which boasted the world’s largest collection of exquisitely carved medieval cross-stones as remnants of the areas once-thriving community of Armenian Christians. The site had stood for centuries. In December 2005, Azeri soldiers armed with sledgehammers, dump trucks and cranes destroyed the site, pounding the medieval headstones into rubble and
Neither the Armenian Genocide nor the Holocaust were included in a recent draft proposal of the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. Needless to say, a wide range of protests have reached the state including a partnering of Armenian, Greek, and Jewish organizations. Source: This article was read in the California Courier: Taub, David (August 22
“In Israel, it seems the Shoah must be viewed as unique; it is yoked to the narrative of redemptive Zionism.” From article by Daniella Peled, Does Yad Vashem Have a Problem with the Bosnian Genocide? Managing Editor of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Haaretz English Edition, August 16, 2019.” It was our intention
The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) and the Armenian National Institute (ANI) join in paying tribute to Dr. Vahakn Dadrian, the internationally renowned scholar of the Armenian Genocide who passed away on August 2 at the age of 93. The author of a set of critically important books and articles on the Armenian Genocide, Dr.
NAASR joins with the Armenian and scholarly communities in marking the death of genocide scholar Dr. Vahakn Dadrian on August 2 at the age of 93. Dr. Dadrian was known all over the world as a pioneer in genocide and comparative genocide studies and in particular for his voluminous writings on the Armenian Genocide. Vahakn
Mr. Erdogan has carried out a purge of Turkish society, punishing his perceived enemies. He has closed 189 media outlets and jailed some 319 journalists. Turkey is ranked 157th out of 180 countries in the Reporters without Borders 2019 index of press freedom. All told, 96,885 people have been arrested, 6,021 academics have been dismissed
In a lecture at Fresno State University in California, Dr. Taner Akcam, holder of the chair in Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University, presented a summary of the stages of genocide as identified by Professor Michel-Rolph Trouillot in Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History.[1] People in power silence or delete history in
The United States government has in fact repeatedly recognized the Armenian Genocide. However, notwithstanding these statements of recognition which include a president’s (Reagan) recognition and several resolutions of the House of Representatives, the overall or standing policy of the United States continues to be an avoidance of recognition. An explicit statement of this avoidance is
See Stanley Jason (July 4, 2019). Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘Fascism’ Claim Too Extreme? [Published in New York Times International under title: It Depends on How You Define Fascism.] New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/04/opinion/fascism-trump-ice.html See Shanes, Joshua (June 28, 2019). Why we must keep looking at politics through the lens of the Holocaust. https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-when-holocaust-historians-have-a-responsibility-to-talk-politics-1.7417583 After visiting migrant detention
by Joe Levine Retrieved from Teacher’s College at Columbia University. https://www.tc.columbia.edu/articles/2019/january/driven/ The Nuba Betwixt, Between and Mostly Ignored Sudan, Africa’s third-largest nation, won independence from Great Britain in 1956, but has been the scene of two subsequent civil wars between the primarily Arabic, Islamic north and the black African and Christian south. Though located in
Would you believe this quotation from the War Department Reply?: “There has been considerable opinion to the effect that such an effort, even if practicable, might provoke even more vindictive action by the Germans.” WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS August 9, 1944 Hon. John J. McCloy Under Secretary of War War Department Washington, D.C. My dear Mr.
By Israel W. Charny Once and For All for History: Repeatedly, there are articles that report or suggest that the milestone First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide in 1982 never took place at all or, alternatively, it is reported that the conference deteriorated severely and just about evaporated. Thus, the California Courier (June
Hightower, Lara Jo (April 14, 2019). Samuel Totten – Words led to action. Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Retrieved from https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2019/apr/14/samuel-totten-20190414/ Professor Samuel Totten is a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem. We are proud to reprint the following tribute to him. On the wall outside internationally known genocide scholar Sam Totten’s
Excerpted from Asbarez, April 9, 2019. New Armenian Genocide Resolution Locks-In Official Recognition, Rejects Turkey’s Denial, Encourages Public Education. Representatives Schiff and Bilirakis joined by over 70 U.S. House Colleagues in Launching Bipartisan Resolution WASHINGTON—On the eve of the Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Observance, Congressmen Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) were joined by more
“A groundbreaking forensic report tracks Azerbaijan’s destruction of 89 medieval churches, 5,480 intricate cross-stones, and 22,700 tombstones,” is the subtitle of an incredible article by Simon Maghakyan and Sarah Pickman, published in the Hyperallergic Magazine last week. The article is titled: “A Regime Conceals its Erasure of Indigenous Armenian Culture.” In April 2011, when the
A report of a remarkable ceremony at Auschwitz in March 2019 tells of Israeli and Polish students standing side by side reading out the names of their relatives who were murdered in the Holocaust at Auschwitz-Birkenau and other death camps. As is widely known, the Polish government in recent years has gone to an extreme
On January 14, 2019, President Donald Trump signed the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, a ground-breaking genocide prevention law, overwhelmingly adopted by the Senate and House, which codifies earlier measures including those implemented by the Obama Administration, and puts in place a set of clear policies and processes to prevent new atrocities. The
by Robert Fisk, Independent (London) Holocaust expert Israel Charny’s new book makes uncomfortable reading, as he asks us to examine ‘a truth we haven’t faced fully enough’ September 25, 2018 – Confronted on a warm, soft Jerusalem evening by one of Israel’s venerable Holocaust scholars – and a psychologist to boot – a visitor to
The Knesset voted down a bill on Wednesday that would have recognized that the Yazidi people, a Kurdish religious minority with a presence in Iraq and Syria and the surrounding region, had been victims of genocide. Fifty-eight Knesset members voted against the bill, which was sponsored by Zionist Union Knesset member Ksenia Svetlova, while 38
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF COMMEMORATION AND DIGNITY OF THE VICTIMS OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE AND OF THE PREVENTION OF THIS CRIME In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly established 9 December as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime.
December 9 is a day proclaimed by the United Nations as a memorial to all the victims of genocide of all peoples: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF COMMEMORATION OF VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE AND OF ITS PREVENTION. December 9 is the day that in 1945 the United Nations passed the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN, PUBLISHER, CALIFORNIA COURIER · AUGUST 28, 2018 Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Media reports indicated that her visit to Armenia and meetings with its leadership were very constructive. Armenian German political, cultural and trade relations are expected to expand. Merkel’s visit resulted in a much needed boost for
The Ukranian Institute of America and the Ukranian Civil Liberties Foundation have unveiled a multi-lingual plaque in English, Ukranian, Hebrew, and Yiddish honoring Dr. Raphael Lemkin, “the father of the U.N. Genocide Convention.” He is of course the originator of the very concept and word, “genocide.” There is a connection to the Ukranian genocide in
The Armenian studies program and the Henry Madden Library at Fresno State University, California together with the Memorial de la Shoah of Paris are exhibiting “Genocides of the Twentieth Century.” The exhibition was designed, created and distributed by the Memorial de la Shoah in Paris – curators Georges ben Soussan, Joel Kotek, and Yves Ternon.
Professor Yehuda Bauer, doyen of Holocaust studies in the world, who is academic advisor to Yad Vashem said in a radio interview about Poland’s newly announced position of suspending criminal penalties in a law that criminalized blaming Poles for Nazi crimes, that Yad Vashem/Israel’s approval of the correction “borders on betrayal” Bauer said about the
Armenia’s new prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, led the protests that toppled the previous government of Armenia. He insists, “I had no personal motivations. All I wanted was to win freedom and happiness for my homeland and people… From the very first day, we kept saying we would not to resort to violence against anyone, even
Excerpts from article on June 28, 2019 in Haaretz in response to Poland’s law forbidding reference to Polish participation in the Holocaust. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave Poland a real treasure in return recognition of Poland’s narrative. The joint declaration, which (for good reason) the two leaders read in English rather than in their voters’ languages, made
Published in the California Courier (March 15, 2018). The USC Shoah Foundation announced the receipt of one of the largest collections of testimonies from survivors of the Armenian Genocide. The testimonies were recorded over several decades beginning in the 1970’s by Richard Hovannisian, a leading scholar on the genocide and the son of a genocide
Fisk, Robert (15 February 2018). In the cases of two separate holocausts, Israel and Poland find it difficult to acknowledge the facts of history. London Independent. Reprinted with permission of the author. While Poland has decided to outlaw any claims that their countrymen participated in the extermination of the Jews, Israel continues to ignore the
Professor Shamai Davidson, MD, at the time of his death, Director of the Shalvata Mental Health Hospital and Center, and Associate Director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, was one of the three founders of the Institute – together with Eli Wiesel and Israel Charny. Shamai Davidson dedicated himself in particular
Published in the California Courier January 28, 2018 – The Polish parliament has approved a law that forbids use of the term “Polish Death Camp,” and forbids any other mention of the participation of the Poles in crimes committed during the Holocaust. Anyone who violates the law, including non-Polish citizens, will be liable to receive a
The Genocide Contagion: How We Commit and Confront Holocaust and Genocide. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. Awarded SPIRITUALITY AND PRACTICE BOOK AWARD 2016. Click here for discount order form — Special 30% discount available only from author. Click here to see endorsements and reviews. A Democratic Mind: Psychology and Psychiatry with Fewer Meds and More Soul.
“How do we act with regard to genocide committed by other nations? We deny the Armenian Genocide. The State of Israel (and not private arms dealers) sold arms to the government of Rwanda at the time they were committing the most rapid genocide in history. Israeli government authorities prevent scrutiny of the documents that reveal
Professor Ben Kiernan, Professor of History and Professor of International and Area Studies and Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University, a distinguished genocide scholar, has granted permission to republish the following article on the website of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem: Kiernan, Ben (2016 ). Wall of Silence: The
Charny, Israel W. (July 19, 2016). Worksheet for Describing and Categorizing a Genocidal Event: A New Tool for Assembling More Objective Data and Classifying Events of Mass Killing. Social Sciences, 5(3), 31. For the pdf version, click here. For the pdf of the Worksheet Chart for Describing and Categorizing a Genocidal Event, click here.
About the Circassians/Muslims אורון, יאיר (2016). הבנאליות של החמלה: על הצלת ילידים יהודים בכפר הצ’ירקסי-מוסלמי בסלניי שבקווקז ב-1942. תל אביב: רסלינג. About Charles Aznavour’s Family אורון, יאיר (2016) (מצילימ (צדיקים) ולוחמים: משפחת אזנבור ו “המודעה האדומה” בפריס הכבושה על-ידי הצבא הנאצי [Rescuers (Righteous) and Warriors: The Aznavour Family and the “Red Poster” in Occupied Paris by
1) “Lemkin on Three Genocides: Comparing His Writings on the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Genocides” in George N. Shirinian, ed., Genocide in the Ottoman Empire: Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks, 1913-1923 (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2017), 253-273. 2) “We Charge Genocide: A Historical Petition All but Forgotten and Unknown” in Scott W. Murray, ed.,
Palestinian Authority’s President Abbas and Other Palestinian Leaders Joined Jewish Israelis in Memorable Planting of Olive Trees A noteworthy event where Israelis and Palestinians celebrated together took place on February 11, 2017 in Neveh Shalom, Israel, the only shared Jewish and Palestinian community in Israel. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the PA, sent an olive
Elie Wiesel was a co-founder of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem together with Israel W. Charny and the late Shamai Davidson, M.D. Newly Unearthed Version of Elie Wiesel’s Seminal Work Is a Scathing Indictment of God, Jewish World In Wiesel’s uncensored Hebrew ‘Night’ manuscript, unveiled here for the first time, the
By Avraham Burg | Jun. 29, 2016 Haaretz English Edition With his usual capacity for describing horrors of genocide and acts of compassion, historian Yair Auron presents the unknown story of Circassians who in 1942 saved Jewish youngsters from slaughter. The world has all sorts of hunters. Some people hunt animals, others race after flash
by Israel W. Charny June 27, 2016 Woe, woe unto us that the Holocaust, in all its tragedy and as an expression of the ugliest human evil, has become a subject of controversy between intellectuals. On the one hand, there are the unshakeable views of the Holocaust establishment, such as at Yad Vashem, that the
Ahead of international conference in Jerusalem, two rival camps of genocide scholars are at each other’s throats, including accusations of anti-Semitism and debates over the Holocaust BY RAPHAEL AHREN Times of Israel June 26, 2016 http://www.timesofisrael.com/academics-go-to-war-over-the-study-of-mass-killings/ Remember the Jew who was stranded on a deserted island and built two synagogues: the one in which he
Charles Aznavour’s family hid Jews in their home during the German occupation of Paris in World War II, French-Armenian singer reveals in new book. By Avner Shapira May 08, 2016 Haaretz English Edition. Reprinted California Courier May 19, 2016. “I knew the chains/I knew the wound/I knew the hate/I knew the hurt/ the thirst and
Haaretz English Edition By Ofer Aderet Jan 27, 2016 Prof. Yair Auron’s thesis is clear: Israel prefers to avoid, repress and minimize the suffering of other peoples in the Holocaust and other circumstances, to perpetuate victimization and isolationism. A memorial to the murdered European Sinti and Roma who were persecuted as ‘Gypsies,’ designed by Dani