Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za
3-minute read
31 July 2025 | 16:00 CAT

📸 A woman weeps amid Gaza’s rubble as Israeli rights groups, including B’Tselem, release a report titled “Our Genocide,” condemning their government’s actions. Photo credit: Al Jazeera

In a sobering and historic shift, two of Israel’s most prominent human rights organisations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, have accused the Israeli state of committing genocide in Gaza. Their statements signal a profound rupture in internal Israeli discourse and a rising moral reckoning amidst the ongoing siege of the Palestinian territory.

Speaking to Radio Islam, Professor Gilbert Achcar, author of The Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World and Historical Perspective, warned that the world is witnessing “the first completely joint US-Israeli war” and an “unfolding genocide” that has drawn complicity from key Western allies. “This genocide would not have been possible in the way we are seeing without the direct participation of the United States,” he said.

Since October 2023, Gaza has been under relentless bombardment, with starvation, mass displacement, and widespread civilian deaths defining what many now agree is a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Achcar underlined the role of other Western states, including Germany and the UK, saying, “Germany is the second provider of weapons to Israel. Britain is also a major military collaborator,  if you oppose the stopping of an ongoing massacre, then you bear responsibility for it.”

The voices within Israel condemning these acts are few, but powerful. B’Tselem’s statement, titled “Our Genocide,” stands as an unflinching moral indictment. “To say that in a state where many are descendants of Holocaust survivors is quite courageous,” said Achcar. “This should be commended.”

The professor highlighted how Israeli society has drifted further to the far-right, emboldening a government that includes openly racist and ethnonationalist factions. “Polls show a majority of Jewish Israelis support expelling Gazans openly in favor of ethnic cleansing,” he explained.

As global far-right ideologies rise in parallel, Achcar sees Gaza as a microcosm of larger dangers: “This genocide has accelerated a global catastrophe. The far-right now commands the most powerful state on Earth, the United States.”

He ended with an urgent call: “It’s absolutely crucial and urgent that there is a fight back. These forces must be defeated the sooner, the better for the future of our planet.”

Listen to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up with Moulana Junaid Kharsany and Professor Gilbert Achcar.