RFK Jr. Accuses Israeli Holocaust Professor of ‘Blood Libel’ for Concluding Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza

AP Photo/Matt Slocum

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused Israeli Holocaust professor Omer Bartov of peddling a “blood libel” after Bartov penned a New York Times op-ed arguing the war in Gaza is “genocide.”

The lengthy essay by Bartov, who teaches Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University as a world leading authority on the subject, was published in the Times on July 15 under the headline: “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.”

In it, the Jewish academic, who grew up in a Zionist home and served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) wrote: “My inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

Bartov argued there was a clear pattern of systematic destruction, mass civilian deaths, displacement, and deprivation, which he said aligned with both the explicit statements of genocidal intent by Israeli leaders and the operational reality on the ground.

“This was a painful conclusion to reach,” he continued, “and one that I resisted as long as I could. But I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one.”

While Bartov cited other academics who share his conclusion, others have pushed against his claims. One such voice is John Spencer, the chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute and a reliable defender of Israel.

Spencer took to X on Tuesday to publish a rebuttal to Bartov’s essay, mockingly titled: “I’m a War Scholar. There Is No Genocide in Gaza.”

Kennedy Jr., replying to the takedown, branded the “genocide charge” an anti-Semitic “blood libel.”

Spencer’s response to Bartov’s essay argued the opposite, that there is no evidence of genocidal intent in Israel’s war on Hamas, claiming that the Israeli military’s conduct and humanitarian aid efforts align with the laws of war and not meet the legal definition of genocide.

“What is happening in Gaza is tragic. But it is not genocide. And it is not illegal,” Spencer wrote.

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