The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
News Release: January 30, 2026
For more information, contact:
info@wymaninstitute.org / 202-434-8994
OVER 100 HOLOCAUST SCHOLARS PROTEST
MISUSE OF THE WORD “GENOCIDE”
WASHINGTON, D.C.- More than 100 Holocaust scholars from around the world have signed a letter protesting the misuse of the word “genocide” by a group purporting to speak in the name of the scholar who coined that term.
The “Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention” is using the name of the late Raphael Lemkin without the family’s authorization, according to family member Joseph Lemkin. The institute has been falsely accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
“Israel’s counter-terror campaign in Gaza is not genocidal, either in intentions or actions,” the scholars noted in their letter to Joseph Lemkin. “The civilian deaths there are the result of Hamas embedding itself in residential areas and using the population as human shields.”
The 114 signatories on the letter include prominent genocide scholars, department chairs, and leaders of Holocaust-related organizations from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, and the United States.
“The false accusation of genocide in Gaza is nothing less than Holocaust-inversion,” said Dr. Rafael Medoff, historian and director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, in Washington DC, which organized the petition. “The fact that extremists are exploiting Lemkin’s name to do so adds insult to injury.”
Prof. Thane Rosenbaum, human rights scholar and co-organizer of the petition said, “The false equivalency here is despicable, and the Lemkin Institute knows it, but they are banking on the public’s ignorance about the definition of genocide.” Rosenbaum is author of the recently published book, Beyond Proportionality: Israel’s Just War in Gaza.
The full text of the letter:
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The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
January 25, 2026
Mr. Joseph Lemkin
c/o European Jewish Association
Dear Mr. Lemkin:
As scholars who have written about the Holocaust or other genocides, we share your family’s concern about extremists exploiting Raphael Lemkin’s name to attack Israel.
We are disappointed that the “Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention,” which we understand was created without your family’s permission, is being used to falsely accuse Israel of genocide.
Israel’s counter-terror campaign in Gaza is not genocidal, either in intentions or actions. The civilian deaths there are the result of Hamas embedding itself in residential areas and using the population as human shields.
The fact that the Lemkin Institute began accusing Israel of “genocide” on October 17, 2023, before a single Israeli soldier had entered Gaza, further illustrates the absurdity of the accusation.
We support your efforts to reclaim the legacy of Raphael Lemkin from those who are besmirching his ideals and goals.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Dr. Rafael Medoff
Director
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
Prof. Thane Rosenbaum
Distinguished University Professor
Touro University
Prof. Gabriel Ben-Zion Abramovich
Northern Michigan University
Prof. Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland
Prof. Monique Rodrigues Balbuena
University of Oregon
Prof. Paul R. Bartrop
Former Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Research
Florida Gulf Coast University (emer.)
Prof. Annette Becker
Paris-Nanterre University, France
Author, Messengers of Disaster: Raphael Lemkin, Jan Karski and Genocides
Prof. Alan L. Berger
Raddock Family Scholar of Holocaust Studies
Florida Atlantic University (ret.)
Prof. David E. Bernstein
Distinguished University Professor
Antonin Scalia Law School
Prof. Mia Bloom
Georgia State University
Founding member, Association of Genocide Scholars
Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor
Former Education Director, Anti-Defamation League
Former faculty, Sarah Lawrence College & New York University
Dr. Verena Buser
Research Associate of the Commissioner for
Combating Antisemitism – Brandenburg (Germany)
Prof. Jovan Byford
The Open University, UK
Prof. Justin Cammy
Professor of Jewish Studies & Comparative Literature
Smith College
Prof. Ellen Cannon
Northeastern Illinois University
Prof. Beverley Chalmers
Independent Scholar
Formerly, Universities of Toronto, Ottawa, Queen’s
Prof. Phyllis Chesler
City University of New York (emer.)
Elise Martel Cohen, Ph. D.
Loyola University Chicago
Eric Cohen
Co-founder, Investors Against Genocide
Former President, Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur
Jorge Conde
Independent Doctoral Researcher
Rabbi Abraham Cooper
Associate Dean, Director Global Social Action
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Prof. Havi Dreifuss
Tel Aviv University
Prof. R. Amy Elman
Kalamazoo College
Dr. Margarete Myers Feinstein
Associate Director of Jewish Studies
Loyola Marymount University
Prof. Michael J. Feuer
George Washington University
Prof. Luis Fleischman
Palm Beach State College
Prof. Piotr Forecki
Adam Mickiewicz University – Poznan, Poland
Abraham H. Foxman
Director Emeritus
Anti-Defamation League
Prof. Zev Garber
Los Angeles Valley College (emer.)
Dr. Edyta Gawron
Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Prof. Norman JW Goda
Norman and Irma Braman Professor of Holocaust Studies
University of Florida
Prof. Yvonne Kozlovsky Golan
Head of the Interdisciplinary Dept. of Culture & Film Studies
University of Haifa
Prof. Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg
Chair, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2000-2002
Former chair, Jewish Studies Dept, City College – CUNY
Dr. Alex Grobman
Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin
President Emeritus, The Schechter Institutes, Inc. – Jerusalem
Coauthor, The Student Struggle Against the Holocaust
Dr. David Barak-Gorodetsky
Director, Elizabeth and Tony Comper Center for the
Study of Antisemitism and Racism, University of Haifa
Prof. Michal Govrin
Tel Aviv University
Prof. Jan Grabowski
Distinguished University Professor
University of Ottawa
Prof. Edward C. Halperin MD MA
The Miriam Popack Chair in Biomedical Ethics after the Holocaust
Director, Hirth and Samowitz Center for Medical Humanities & Holocaust Studies
New York Medical College
Sharon Halperin
Director, The Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and
Human Rights Education of North Carolina
Prof. Katherine Harbord
Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Bernard Harrison
Emeritus E.E. Ericksen Professor of Philosophy, University of Utah;
Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Humanities, University of Sussex, UK
Jeffrey Herf
Distinguished University Professor (emer.)
University of Maryland, College Park
Prof. Susannah Heschel
Dartmouth College
Prof. Isaac Hershkowitz
Bar-Ilan University
Prof. Steven L. Jacobs
Emeritus Aaron Aronov Chair of Judaic Studies
The University of Alabama
Prof. Gunther Jikeli
Interim Director, Borns Jewish Studies Program
Associate Director, Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism
Indiana University
Albert Kaganovitch, Ph.D.
Independent Holocaust researcher, Winnipeg
Prof. Debbie Kaminer
Department of Law
Baruch College, City University of New York
Prof. Joshua M. Karlip
Herbert S. and Naomi Professor of Jewish History
Yeshiva University
Prof. Efraim Karsh
King’s College London (emer.)
Prof. Steven T. Katz
Boston University
Prof. Rona Kaufman
Duquesne Kline School of Law
Co-Founder, Center for Jewish Legal Studies
Faculty Consultant, Academic Engagement Network
Prof. Tomasz Kitlinski
Academy of the Arts in Szczecin (Stettin), Poland
Lesley Klaff
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism
Naomi Yavneh Klos, Ph.D.
Dean, Honors College
The University of New Mexico
Prof. Eugene Kontorovich
Antonin Scalia Law School
George Mason University
Prof. Neil J. Kressel
William Paterson University
Author, Mass Hate: The Global Rise of Genocide and Terror
Bali Lerner
Executive Director
Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County
Prof. Richard Libowitz
Temple University (emer.)
Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein
Author, Were We Our Brothers’ Keepers?
Adam Louis-Klein
Post-Graduate Fellow, London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism
Founder, Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ)
Prof. Reneo Lukic
Laval University, Canada
Prof. Andrea J. Martin
Penn State Dickinson Law
Samuel Maruszewski
University of Wroclaw, Poland
Prof. Anthony McElligott, MRIA, FRHistS.
University of Limerick (emer.)
Prof. Robert Melson
Purdue University (emer.)
Prof. Jon Michaels
UCLA School of Law
Prof. Joanna B. Michlic
University College London / Gratz College
Dr. Hilly Moodrick-Even Khen
Chair, Ariel University Center for the Research and Study of Genocide
Prof. Luiz Nazario
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Prof. Cary Nelson
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Prof. Aubrey Newman (emer.)
Founding Director, Stanley Burton Centre of
Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Leicester
Prof. David Patterson
Hillel Feinberg Distinguished Chair in Holocaust Studies
Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas
Prof. Jacques Picard
University of Basel, Switzerland (emer.)
Prof. Todd L. Pittinsky
Stony Brook University (SUNY)
Dr. Eunice G. Pollack
University of North Texas (ret.)
Prof. Dina Porat
Tel Aviv University
Jacek Purski
Director, Auschwitz Research Center on
Hate, Extremism and Radicalization at House 88
Walter Reich
Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Professor of International Affairs, Ethics and Human Behavior
The George Washington University
Former Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Prof. Daniel Reiser
Chair, Department of Jewish Thought
Herzog College
Prof. Monika Rice
Lafayette College
Prof. Elihu D. Richter
Hebrew University
Prof. Alvin H. Rosenfeld
Director, Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism
Indiana University
Prof. Suzanne D. Rutland, OAM
University of Sydney (emer.)
Prof. Marilyn P. Safir
University of Haifa (emer.)
Prof. Jonathan D. Sarna
Brandeis University (emer.)
Adv. Avraham Russell Shalev
Senior Fellow
Kohelet Policy Forum
Prof. Robert M. Shapiro
Brooklyn College, City University of New York
Dr. Karen Shawn
Yeshiva University
Prof. Michael A. Shmidman
Touro University
Prof. Jonathan Skolnik
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Dr. Charles Asher Small
ISGAP President; Fellow St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge
Philip Spencer
Emeritus Professor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Kingston University, UK
Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg
Bar Ilan University
President, NGO Monitor
Prof. Suzanne Last Stone
Director, Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization
Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University
Prof. John Strawson
University of East London UK
Prof. Stephen Sussman
Barry University; Research Fellow, ISGAP;
Co-President, Palm Beach Center for Democracy and Policy Research
André Swanström
Associate Professor, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Izabella Tabarovsky
Fellow, London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism
Dr. Zbyněk Tarant
Antisemitism and Israel Studies Scholar
University of West Bohemia – Pilsen, Czech Republic
Prof. Leslie Tenzer
Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Prof. Zoltan Tibori-Szabó
Director of the Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj, Romania
Prof. Joanna Tokarska-Bakir
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
Dr. Joseph Toltz
The University of Sydney
Dr. Sheree Trotter
Co-founder, Holocaust & Antisemitism Foundation, New Zealand
Prof. Gil Troy
Distinguished Scholar of North American History
McGill University
Prof. James Wald
Hampshire College
Prof. Ruth Wisse
Harvard University (emer.)
Prof. Meng Yang
Peking University
Marzena Zawanowska
Deputy Dean for Research and International Relations
Faculty of History, University of Warsaw
Prof. John C. Zimmerman
University of Nevada Las Vegas
Dr. Gary Phillip Zola
Executive Director Emeritus
The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
& Edward M. Ackerman Family Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Affiliations listed for identification purposes only.