How Do You Say Genocide in Hebrew?

What value is there in historically researching the concept of cultural genocide if one doesn’t resist it in real time?

Bilsky’s book, published in May 2024, makes no mention of #Gaza—despite the fact that by then, the #IDF had systematically destroyed universities, archives, libraries, mosques, and churches across the Strip. For a book devoted entirely to theorizing cultural genocide, the silence is not merely an oversight but a refusal to confront what the author’s own framework describes.

Bilsky’s subject is cultural genocide - destroying a people’s language, culture, and collective memory, not just their bodies. She analyzes how the #Eichmann trial suppressed this understanding, despite four key figures who recognized it: Raphael Lemkin (who coined “genocide”), Yiddish poet Abraham Sutzkever, historian Salo Baron, and testimony-collection pioneer Rachel Auerbach.

בילסקי, ליאורה. 2024. איך אומרים ג’נוסייד בעברית? שלוש קריאות במשפט אייכמן. קו אדום כהה. בני ברק: הוצאת הקיבוץ המאוחד. 170 עמ’. ISBN: 978-965-02-1358-9.

English (transliteration):

Bilsky, Leora. 2024. Eikh Omrim Genocide Be’Ivrit? Shalosh Kri’ot Be’Mishpat Eichmann [How Do You Say Genocide in Hebrew? Three Readings of the Eichmann Trial]. Dark Red Line Series. Bnei Brak: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing. 170 pp. ISBN: 978-965-02-1358-9.

Source (Hebrew): https://zoha.org.il/142536/

#books #hebrew #genocidestudies #gazagenocide #ethnocide #culturalgenocide

'A despicable disgrace': #BobGeldof condemns #Israel over #Gaza hunger

Updated / Friday, 25 Jul 2025

"#LiveAid founder Bob Geldof has condemned the Israeli government's role in the Gaza crisis, calling it 'a despicable disgrace' and saying it is deliberately #StarvingChildren.

" 'Their government is clearly out of control, and their army probably as well… It is a despicable disgrace. And for the Israeli people to allow this in their name is a despicable disgrace,' he told Prime Time.

" 'It is so utterly bizarre that we're talking about #Israel, given the horror of their own past. It is bewildering to me,' he said.

" 'I was the founding patron of the #AegisTrust for #GenocideStudies, which is a branch of the British National #HolocaustMuseum. I spent many times with the survivors of the #Holocaust' he told presenter Miriam O’Callaghan, 'were they alive now? They would possibly die of shame. The shame of this, Miriam, the shame for Israel... This is unconscionable.'

"His comments come amid escalating warnings from UN agencies about catastrophic levels of #starvation in Gaza.

"Earlier, Louise Wateridge, a senior emergency officer with #UNRWA, described the situation on the ground as 'completely unbearable,' with people stepping over bodies at aid centres in desperate searches for food.

"She said more than 6,000 aid trucks - half carrying essential food and medical supplies - are currently blocked just outside Gaza by Israeli restrictions.

"#UNICEF also warned that ongoing bombardment and mass displacement have rendered large parts of Gaza inaccessible for #humanitarian operations, with basic health and nutrition services near collapse.

"Mr Geldof appeared on Prime Time after a report featuring footage and images taken in recent days of #malnourished and hungry children in Gaza.

"In the report, #Oxfam aid worker #BushraKhalidi described the actions of Israel as '#CollectivePunishment,' while #CarolineWilleman of #DoctorWithoutBorders, speaking from northern Gaza, told Prime Time that she had never witnessed anything like what she was seeing currently during her career.

"She described how #Palestinian colleagues who are caring for sick and dying children are themselves unable to feed themselves or their own children.

" 'We are witnessing a #genocide,' Ms Willeman said, 'we are witnessing a genocide because we are witnessing people from whom food is being upheld, from whom water is being upheld.'

" 'It literally is beyond our comprehension. Look at your face, look at the aid workers there,' Mr Geldof said, 'What are we living in? I cannot look at those pictures. Obviously, they remind me of 1984, but in completely different circumstances.'

"Between 1983 and 1985 a major #famine erupted in #Ethiopia as a result of #drought and conflict. Footage in the news media drove Mr Geldof and #MidgeUre to found #BandAid in 1984 to raise funds for #FamineRelief initiatives.

"A year later, Live Aid, a two-event concert performed simultaneously in the UK and US was held. It featured some of the most famous music acts in the world at the time."

https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2025/0724/1525255-a-despicable-disgrace-geldof-condemns-israel-over-gaza-hunger/

#FoodIsLife #WaterIsLife #FreePalestine #EndGazaGenocide #IsraeliWarCrimes #BibiIsAWarCriminal #EndTheBlockade #GazaGenocide

"As their institutions have flailed in addressing the relentless Israeli assault on #Gaza, and their colleagues have split into irreconcilable camps over whether to describe it as genocide, many scholars have diagnosed a 'crisis' in the field of genocide studies."

#JewishCurrents' #MariCohen reports on how #GenocideStudies institutions are grappling with a #genocide committed by #Israel

https://jewishcurrents.org/can-genocide-studies-survive-a-genocide-in-gaza

#GazaGenocide #Palestine #ColonialViolence #HolocaustStudies @palestine @israel

"The concept of #genocide remains one of the most contested in the field of violence research [..] In this forum, we host a pivotal exchange between two prominent voices: Martin Shaw, who defends the term’s conceptual robustness and practical utility, and Dirk Moses, who critiques its limitations and calls for a fundamental rethinking of its theoretical underpinnings."

https://jpr.winchesteruniversitypress.org/issues/13/files/13-13-PB.pdf

#GenocideStudies #UNGenocideConvention #Gaza #GazaGenocide #Palestine #oPt @palestine @israel

Thurs Nov 7th @ 2pm ET 9pm Palestine

#Gaza in Context: A Collaborative Teach-In Series

Leaving Zionism, Embracing Humanity | Raz Segal's Intellectual & Political Journey: Part 1 of 2

#RazSegal in conversation with #BassamHaddad

https://youtu.be/CVDsDkz2BtE

#Palestine #PalestineQuestion #Israel #oPt #GenocideStudies #Jadaliyya

@palestine