My U.N. Commission’s Finding: Israel Is Committing Genocide : Shared by Tom McDermott

Opinion | My U.N. Commission’s Finding: Israel Is Committing Genocide

Navi Pillay
The New York Times, September 16, 2025
Click here for the article

Summary:
Navi Pillay, chair of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, concludes that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza between October 2023 and July 2025.

The commission’s legal analysis cites massive civilian deaths, the destruction of essential infrastructure, and deliberate use of starvation and siege tactics. Senior Israeli leaders’ dehumanizing statements, coupled with indiscriminate military actions, demonstrate genocidal intent under the U.N. Genocide Convention. Pillay stresses that international law obligates states to act immediately to prevent genocide, not to remain neutral, warning that inaction constitutes complicity.

Quotes:

• “Our conclusion is stark: Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

• “Estimated life expectancy in Gaza has collapsed from 75 years to just over 40 in a single year, one of the steepest declines recorded.”

• “To do nothing is not neutrality. It is complicity.”

• “No crime, however grave, justifies genocide. To respond to atrocity with atrocity is to abandon the very values international law was created to protect.”

• “Every act of genocide is a test of the humanity that binds us.”