IAGS was founded in 1994 and has since voted through resolutions on, among other things, Armenia, Sudan, Syria and Myanmar. The vote on Gaza, in which 28 percent of the organization's approximately 600 members participated, ended with 86 percent voting for the resolution.
In it, it was stated that Israel's warfare meets the legal criteria for genocide.
The criticism thereafter – mainly from pro-Israeli opinion-makers in social media, but also from at least one IAGS member – is about IAGS having an anti-Israeli agenda and that the resolution is therefore not considered reliable.
Not least, critics have attacked the fact that IAGS is open to almost anyone who pays the membership fee. To prove this, people like comedian Aron Flam have become members, as well as people who call themselves Adolf Hitler and Sheev Palpatine (from "Star Wars").
Does not review members
IAGS chairman Melanie O'Brien stated earlier in the week to TT that a "majority" of the members are researchers or academics specialized in genocide studies or related fields.
Peter Balakian, who has been involved from the start and previously sat on IAGS' advisory board, tells TT that membership applications are not reviewed. Instead, they rely on the fact that those who become members are active in the field.
I do not know of a single academic organization that requires anything more than a membership fee. Those who join a voluntary organization are those who are deeply committed to an area, says Balakian, who, among other things, has written books about the genocide of Armenians in the former Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s.
According to Balakian, the resolution text was written by "a group of prominent researchers", most of whom are long-time IAGS members. He calls the criticism "an influence campaign" aimed at discrediting the organization and diverting attention from the issue, namely Israel's warfare in Gaza.
In an attempt to avoid the fact-based resolution, a group of people have decided to try to smear the organization and kill the messenger. And that's not professional.
Does not answer about voting
Among other things, it has been claimed that IAGS had far fewer members before the October 7 attack in 2023, which became the starting point for the war between Israel and Hamas. Pro-Israeli accounts on social media also point out that a remarkably large number of members come from the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
In Sveriges Radio's Studio Ett, communications manager Emily Sample responds that the organization has not seen any increased influx of "activists, Gazans or Muslims".
The membership list, which was previously open to the public on IAGS' website, has now been taken down. In a statement on Friday, IAGS refers to the safety of its members, after several of them received threats and hate.
IAGS has not answered TT's questions about who voted on the Gaza resolution and what academic background they have.
In a resolution passed on August 31, the academic association International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) stated that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
According to the resolution, the Israeli government has committed systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in Gaza. Among other things, indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals, residential buildings and businesses, are highlighted.
The resolution also refers to Israel's blockade of food, water, medicine and electricity to the inhabitants of Gaza.
The fact that Israel has several times forced "almost all" of Gaza's inhabitants to flee is also highlighted, as well as the fact that over 90 percent of the territory's housing infrastructure has been destroyed.
Israel has wiped out entire families and generations of Palestinians, the resolution states.
28 percent of IAGS members participated in the digital vote on the resolution, a turnout that the organization says is standard. Of these, 86 percent voted in favor.
Israel has rejected the resolution and claimed that it is based on "Hamas lies".
Facts: International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
