The charge by Israel’s enemies that it is committing a genocide against the Palestinians is false, malicious and a complete inversion of the truth. It relies on disinformation and invented legal standards to deny the Jewish state its right to self-defense following Hamas’s genocidal attack on October 7, 2023. Nevertheless, it is being promoted by certain Israelis, whose words are used as an authoritative validation of the bogus claim. One such Israeli– who serves as a hero to those who delight in vilifying Israel– is Lee Mordechai, whose false “genocide” charges against Israel provides fuel for the delegitimization of the Jewish state.
Below is an article by Yigal Carmon — a former Israeli intelligence officer, counterterrorism adviser, and founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute — debunking Mordechai’s sanctimonious accusations.
The Man Who Wasn’t There: An Account Of A Fake Witness To The Gaza War
Fact-Checking Lee Mordechai’s False Genocide Allegations Against Israel
by Yigal Carmon
Introduction
The website “Bearing Witness to the Israel-Gaza War,”1 run by Israeli historian Lee Mordechai,2 claims to be “both a public statement and an archive… [that] aims to make sense of a deeply complex and troubling situation” in Gaza.
Mordechai states that his website/archive “compiles evidence from reliable sources, including humanitarian organizations, investigative reports, and firsthand accounts” of war crimes committed by Israel against the people of Gaza 3 – which, according to Mordechai, meet the definition of “genocide” (in Mordechai’s words, “my definition of genocide”).4
This document will refute several major claims made by Mordechai on his website.
A Note On Mordechai’s Website
Mordechai’s website, Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com, appears to be inaccessible from an Israel-based server. It is unclear why this is so, and whether or not this is deliberate.5
“Witness”
A Misleading Use Of The Term In The Name Of Mordechai’s Website
The first and most basic element to be refuted in Mordechai’s project is his self-definition as “a witness.” Mordechai did not witness any of the alleged war crimes he cites in his report. The name of his website – “bearing witness to the Israel-Gaza war” – is misleading; what Mordechai does on his website is present a collection of information from a wide range of news websites and social media platforms, and reframe it as “evidence.” He has witnessed none of these firsthand.
“I, Lee Mordechai, An Historian By Profession”
Harnessing Irrelevant Expertise (History Of The Justinianic Plague) To Claim Authority
Mordechai begins his statement of purpose with the words: “I, Lee Mordechai, an Historian by profession and an Israeli citizen…”6. He harnesses his academic authority as “a historian by profession” to provide pseudo-academic basis to his claims of genocide.
Mordechai’s field of expertise in academia is the Justinianic plague and global pandemics,7 which fall under the research category of Environmental History. Mordechai is not an expert or an academic authority on the topic of genocide. Before publishing this document, Mordechai never dealt with the subject.8 He uses his title of a Late Antiquity historian (AD 541–549) to muster whatever authority and stature he can so as to appear knowledgeable in a field in which he has no expertise whatsoever.
“My Definition Of Genocide”
Mordechai vs. Prof. Yisrael Charny, A World-Renowned Expert On Genocide Research
By his own admission, Mordechai’s definition of genocide is based on “my [i.e. his own] understanding of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”
Mordechai’s understanding stands in contradiction to the element of intent, which according to the 1948 Convention is essential to the definition of “genocide.”
The Convention requires that in order to be considered genocide, an act must be “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”9 Mordechai himself has clarified that he does not believe that an Israel policy to commit genocide against the Palestinians had been “meticulously planned or put in writing.”10 This in its own right is enough to undermine Mordechai’s claim that genocide has been taking place in Gaza, as no Israeli intent can be proven in the absence of written and/or planned policies. The factor of intent – crucial for the definition of genocide – is absent even by Mordechai’s own standards.
In contrast to Mordechai, the late Prof. Israel Charny,11 who headed the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem and was editor of The Encyclopedia of Genocide,12 determined that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza. Before his death in December 2024, Prof. Charny wrote several articles refuting claims of Israeli genocide in Gaza.13
The October 7 attack on Israel, and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war, had prompted Charny to reexamine premises he had previously held regarding the definition of genocide. On June 19, 2024, Charny wrote on his institute’s website:
“Professionally, I have always taken the position that the creation or allowance of any situation which results in masses of dead civilian bodies is genocide… I am now prepared to acknowledge that I was wrong – not in decrying all mass murder but in failing to keep a penetrating focus on intentional genocide.”14
The focal point, according to Charny’s revised definition, is not so much on the number of dead as on the intention – or absence thereof – behind the act of killing. Since “intent” is not scientifically quantifiable, it is hard to determine the level of intent is behind any human action. But in the case of the Israeli intent regarding the Gaza war, Charny offered a simple test question that proves that the accusation of genocide is unfounded:
“If Hamas had not attacked Israel genocidally, in their horrific October 7 slaughter, would Israel have attacked Gaza? No.”
In other words, had Israel wished to annihilate the Palestinians in Gaza, there was no need for it to wait for Hamas to attack first on October 7 in order to do so. Since Israel did not start an unprovoked war, it possessed no intent to commit genocide in Gaza. Applying the same logic to Hamas, on the other hand, proves that Hamas did commit first-degree genocide against Israel – a genocide Charny describes as a “massive orgy” of slaying of Israeli citizens.
Charny, nonetheless, sums it all up by blaming Israel:
“…It is and would be blatantly wrong to accuse Israel of intentional genocidal destruction of the Palestinians, but possibly correct to say that [Israel] has exacted an unduly severe human toll that, sadly, constitutes a crime against humanity.”15
In an article titled “Leading Genocide Scholar Israel Charny On Gaza War,” published March 27, 2024 by Genocidewatch.com,16 Charny separates opinion from fact, and again, frames the Gaza war within its true historical context:
“The present war was initiated by a genocidal attack on October 7, 2023 that killed every Israeli in sight including babies, women, the elderly and infirm along with many unarmed non-combatant[s], party-going teenagers and young people. That attack included mass rape and frightful torture and mutilation, as well as kidnapping of hundreds of Israeli hostages. Yet Israeli popular culture did NOT call for extermination of the Palestinians… The official charter of Hamas seeks to exterminate Jews and destroy the nation of Israel. This is declared intent to commit genocide… Hamas has placed weapon systems in the homes of civilians and in civilian institutions such as schools and hospitals in total disregard of the consequences for its people”.
In Charny’s revised opinion as an academic authority on the subject of genocide, in the circumstances under which a) the State of Israel is fighting against an enemy state that has committed genocide against Israeli citizens; b) this enemy state seeks the total destruction of the state of Israel as well as the total annihilation of the Jewish people, and explicitly declares this intention in its charter; and c) this enemy is all the while using its own citizens as human shields in a systematic and planned manner. Hence, Israel is fighting a war of self-defense, and self-defense does not include genocidal intent. This is all the more true when it was Hamas’ own policies that brought this extent of killing upon the people of Gaza.17
The fact that Hamas is using its own citizens as human shields as a pre-planned tactic will be proven without a doubt further in this document.
Mordechai appears to be aware of this weakness in his argument. For this reason, when forced into a corner, he downplays the overall significance of defining genocide at all. In an interview with the pro-Palestinian British journalist Owen Jones,18 he said:19
“…Is the entire thing genocide? Or only a part of it [is] genocide? And again, I don’t want to take a position on this, because even if part of it [is] genocide, it’s bad enough, right? Or even if it is not genocide and only plausibly genocide that’s also bad enough, it’s also not a place where one should be happy to live, I think…I don’t know”.
Jones, left, interviews Mordechai. Jones once claimed that the Israeli hostages brought into Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza by Hamas on October 7 were there “for medical treatment,’ and expressed doubt about the evidence of Hamas’s horrific acts of rape and sexual violence on October 7 (Source: X.com/owenjonesjourno/status/1726330093692440597, November 19, 2023.)
Absence Of Proper Disclosure
Mordechai does not disclose that he is academically and financially involved with the Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University.20 The center is headed by Iranian-born Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, a vocal sympathizer of the Iranian regime21 and an active participant in anti-Israel campus protests.22 The center also hosts former Iranian official Dr. Seyed Hossein Mousavian as a researcher. Mousavian, a supporter of both Hamas and Hizbullah, endorsed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa to murder Salman Rushdie.23 By all academic standards, Mordechai should have disclosed the above information to his readers.
Who Is Lee Mordechai?
Lee Mordechai is an historian and a member of the faculty at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He completed his doctoral studies at Princeton University in 2017, and for his postdoctoral studies went on to the University of Notre Dame and the Institute of Environmental Studies at Annapolis.24 The web page of the Princeton University Department of History describes Mordechai as “a Byzantine environmental historian who specializes in the study of past interactions between Byzantine society and its environment.”25 Mordechai was also involved in research with The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, a Princeton initiative aimed at creating “a dynamic scholarly community” that, according to its website, “supports teaching and research on all aspects of Iran and Persian Gulf Studies.”26
During the 2015 academic year, the center granted a number of awards to students and researchers, amounting to nearly $30,000. Mordechai was among the recipients.27
The center is currently headed by Iranian-born Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, who actively participated in campus protests held at Princeton in which the protestors called on the university’s board to “condemn Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people… refrain from association [with] Israeli academic institutions and businesses, and cultivate relationships with Palestinian institutions.”28
Another Mossavar-Rahmani Center-affiliated scholar is Dr. Seyed Hossein Mousavian. In the academic year 2016-2017, the university contributed $10,000 to support Mousavian’s scholarship.29
By Princeton’s definition, Mousavian is a “Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist.” In a 1997 interview with the German Taz daily, Mousavian voiced his support for Hamas and Hizbullah.30 Mousavian served as Iran’s Ambassador to Germany from 1990 to 1997. During his tenure, in 1992, Iranian and Hizbullah operatives assassinated Kurdish dissidents in a Mafia-style attack at the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin. According to an archived 1997 article from the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Abolghasem Mesbahi, a former Iranian intelligence official, told a Berlin court during the trial in the Mykonos restaurant attack that “Mousavian participated in most of the [Iranian regime’s] crimes that took place in Europe.”31
Lee Mordechai is also currently the director of FLAME (Framing the Late Antique and Early Medieval Economy) project at Princeton.32 One sponsor of FLAME is the Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies.33
Mordechai is a former officer in the IDF Engineering Corps.34
Mordechai’s Version Of The Gaza War
Mordechai defines his Gaza war archive as a work in progress, constantly updating it with newer versions of the same core document which accuses Israel of massacring, dehumanizing, and ethnically cleansing the Palestinians in Gaza. Mordechai also accuses Israel of “[refraining] from making serious moves to release the 120+ Israeli hostages that remain in Gaza” (that is, the Israeli hostages held by Hamas), and protests against Israel’s attempts to rescue hostages by means of military operations.35
Mordechai claims to have a “commitment to justice.” He also invites readers to “critically examine the evidence”36 – which is the aim of this document.37
Two Audiences, Two Languages
“Reliable Sources” vs. “It Might Be Made Up”
In an article in English posted on the website of AURDIPE (Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine), dated December 6, 2024, Mordechai emphasizes that the information on which he bases his claims comes from “reliable sources.”38 However, in an interview he gave in Hebrew to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper39 for an Israeli audience, that was published December 5, 2024, Mordechai backs down on labelling his information as fact, using ambiguous rhetoric to describe the degree of its validity and credibility.
“I don’t think everything should be taken for a fact, but we should face it, see what it is based on, and think of what that means,”40 he says at one stage of the interview. Further on in the article, he admits: “[I]n fact, no one knows exactly what is happening in Gaza.”
Eventually, when discussing a Palestinian report about IDF quadcopters that mimic the sound of crying babies, Mordechai ends up with the realization that “it might be made up.” He immediately adds, “But it fits what I see”41 – pretending, again, that he himself witnessed the alleged atrocities.
Massacring Palestinians
“A Hamas Member In Qatar Claimed…”
In the section titled “The Massacre of Palestinians,” Mordechai gives the figure for the Palestinians allegedly killed so far in the war as 37,266 – amounting to 1.5% of the total Gaza population.42 These numbers are based solely on reports coming from the Hamas Ministry of Health in Gaza,43 which Mordechai considers a reliable source.
He claims that casualty reports provided by the Hamas ministry have been accepted by IDF officials. This is false. For this claim, he quotes an Israeli news outlet that allegedly interviewed two anonymous sources said to be affiliated with IDF intelligence.44 However, in reality, an IDF spokesperson accused the Hamas Health Ministry of fabricating the numbers for civilian casualties on several occasions – for example, in the September 10, 2024 IDF airstrike in Kahn-Yunis, the ministry claimed that 40 civilians had been killed but later cut that number by more that a half.45 Since reports by the Hamas ministry lack credibility, and draw no distinction between a) Hamas terrorists, b) civilians facilitating and aiding Hamas activity, and c) uninvolved civilians, Mordechai’s figures cannot be considered as supporting evidence of an ongoing massacre.
Mordechai quotes doctors returning from Gaza as saying that there has been a high percentage of wounded children (70-75%) among those evacuated to hospitals in Gaza. Without getting into the question of the sources’ credibility, these arguments fail to acknowledge two basic facts:
- Hamas has child-soldiers as young as 12 in its ranks.46
- During the current war, as in previous conflicts with Israel, Hamas uses its decades-old tactic of deliberately operating from populated areas and using children as human shields. Hamas officials such as Fathi Hamad have openly stated in the past that this is their preferred tactic in conducting warfare against Israel. He said that the enemies of Allah “do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its [methods] of death and death seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: ‘We desire death like you desire life.'”
To view this 2008 clip of Hamas official Fathi Hamad on MEMRI TV, click here.
In an October 27, 2023 interview aired on Russia Today, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu-Marzouk explained that the tunnels in Gaza were built to protect Hamas operatives, not civilians. Protecting civilians in Gaza, he said, is the responsibility of the U.N. and Israel:
“We have built the tunnels because we have no other way of protecting ourselves from being targeted and killed. These tunnels are meant to protect us from the airplanes. We are fighting from inside the tunnels. Everybody knows that 75% of the people in the Gaza Strip are refugees, and it is the responsibility of the United Nations to protect them. According to the Geneva Convention, it is the responsibility of the occupation to provide them with all the services as long as they are under occupation.”
To view the clip of Abu Marzouk’s statements on MEMRI TV, click here.
“Historian” In Action
Mordechai Clings To False Allegations Long After They Are Withdrawn By Their Sources
To further base his allegations, Mordechai resorts to citing data from another source he considers reliable – “a Hamas member in Qatar.”47 This Hamas member’s statement that “the organization [Hamas] lost [only] some 6,000 militants” is said to have been rejected by Hamas later on.
This was not the only time Mordechai recycled data that has been acknowledged as false even by its original Palestinian sources. He continues to claim that there is a possibility that Palestinian women were raped during an IDF raid at Al-Shifa Hospital – even long after this claim was withdrawn by its original sources, the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel and the brother of the alleged eyewitness to the incident.48
A Stroll Along The Beach
“Palestinians Walking Along The Coasts And Getting Shot”
Under the title “Massacres, Rules of Engagement, and Examples,” Mordechai writes:
“There are several filmed cases of Palestinians walking along the coasts and getting shot.”
The link provided goes to an X account that, on June 12, 2024, posted a segment from a report by the openly antisemitic and Hamas-supporting Qatari Al-Jazeera network.49 Below are screenshots of what he considers evidence of killings:50
A Tank Or A Bulldozer?
The Eyewitness That Couldn’t Make Up His Mind
Mordechai reports that
“a detained Gazan had his hands zip-tied before [he was] driven over by an Israeli tank, potentially while he was still alive. An image of his mutilated corpse was shared on an Israeli Telegram channel with a post stating that ‘You are going to love this!!!'”
In his Haaretz interview, Mordechai said that the horror of this particular case had deeply affected him.
Neither of the links to the above-mentioned photo provided in Mordechai’s report were active, and a Google search for such a photo using the terms “Gaza,” “tank,” and “run over” yielded the original photo in a March 3, 2024 Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report.51
On the left, below is the unpixellated photo, shared on X by “Rami Abdu,” who later deleted the post.52
The Euro-Med report53 in Arabic stated that the victim, Jamal Hamdi Hassan Ashour, was detained on February 29, 2024, and interrogated by Israeli soldiers, who then tied both his hands and placed him in front of “a tank or a bulldozer” that ran him over while he was still alive. The report emphasized that the victim was placed on the asphalt rather than on sand, to “make sure he is being run over completely.”
According to the Deutsche Welle fact-checking team, AI-generated images and graphic footage from the Syrian conflict are often recycled on social media and news sites and labeled “Israeli atrocities” in Gaza.54 Likewise, it is impossible to determine either the authenticity of this particular image, that is, whether it is AI-generated or graphically edited, or its source.
There is, however, a way to check the photo against the narrative provided by Mordechai on his website:
- While the sources on which Mordechai based his reporting claimed that the victim’s two hands were tied together, the photo clearly shows a single intact zip tie around the victim’s right wrist. Handcuffing only one wrist is useless for restraint or arrest, and no logical sequence of events would lead to the victim having only a single intact zip-tie connected to nothing around only one wrist.
- If it was released after the victim’s death, the zip tie would have been torn or damaged, but the zip tie in the photo is still intact.
- It is unlikely that eyewitnesses would provide contradictory statements regarding the type of military armored vehicle involved. But in one version of the narrative referenced by Mordechai, Ashour was run over by a tank; in the other, it was a bulldozer.55
- The Euro Med report states:
Despite the elaborate testimony of “eyewitnesses,” Euro-Med still can’t seem to decide whether Ashour was driven over by a tank or by a bulldozer: “The victim’s mutilated body and the surrounding area bear obvious signs that a military bulldozer or tank was present…”58
Another such incident took place on January 23, 2024, according to a March 4, 2024 Euro-Med report; it too was included in Mordechai’s report.59 Amina Ghannem, 13, of Khan Yunis, said that an Israeli “tank went over us three or four times… then the soldiers saw us and got us out, and brought us over here to the school…” As a result, according to the Euro-Med report, she “experienced extreme pressure in her eyes, nearly losing her sight.”60 The Qatari-based Doha News outlet followed up on the incident, reporting on February 5, 2024 that she had been evacuated to a hospital in Qatar in order “to save her eyesight.”61 This report included a photo of a girl identified as Amina in a wheelchair accompanied by Palestinian journalist and photographer Belal Khaled, with a smaller inset photo of a girl’s face.
The girl in the wheelchair, who is supposedly Amina Ghannem, is clearly not the same as the girl in the inset photo on the right, who is also supposedly Amina Ghannem.
A reverse image search of the photo of the girl in the inset photo found the photo accompanying a short interview with Amina, from an X account titled “Eye on Palestine,” posted January 22, 2024, the day before the Euro-Med report said the incident had taken place. As she tells what allegedly happened, she is animated and seems to have no problems moving her arms. She said:62
“We live in a tin shack. In front of it there is a stretch of land. The tanks came the first time, without warning. They came and ran over the house. The shack collapsed on top of us and we were buried under it. The tank went over us three or four times. The last time we stayed as we were, we couldn’t get out. The tanks were around us. We were afraid to get out. Then the soldiers saw us and got us out, and brought us over here to the school…”
She reported that both her parents and her brother were killed in the incident.
Breaking Down Amina’s Narrative
- An Israeli Merkava 5 tank weighs 65 tons. Had Amina really been “run over three or four times” by one of them, she would not have lived to tell the tale on social media.
- Having established that, it is also not possible for her eyes to have been the only part of her to suffer injury, with her limbs, spine, and internal organs unscathed.
- The eye condition seen in this photo is consistent with Ocular Subconjunctival Hemorrhage, which can be a symptom of a variety of health conditions, unrelated to injury or trauma.63 Amina’s mask also indicates that she is suffering from a medical condition unrelated to sudden injury.
Screenshot of video of Amina, posted January 22, the day before the alleged tank incident took place (Source: X.com/EyeonPalestine/status/1749473396117610637, January 22, 2024)
- Even if taken at face value, Amina’s story of surviving 65 tons of direct downward pressure not just once but three or four times does not prove that there was any massacre – on the contrary. She herself says that once the soldiers realized that there were people in the house, they moved them out from under the debris to a nearby school.
- This is underlined by the fact that the IDF had taken considerable measures to ensure that civilians were evacuated from the Khan Yunis area before it embarked on its campaign there. The IDF had ordered residents of the western outskirts of Khan Yunis to evacuate immediately to an agreed safe humanitarian zone. This order, conveyed via social media and other means, was clear and concise, and was recorded and reported by the UN.64
- OCNHA report (“Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #101”) states: “On 23 January, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders via social media to Palestinians in a number of city blocks in Khan Younis.” These orders were issued to the residents of a block covering four kilometers near the Nasser hospital, which included Amina’s house near Al-Mawasi.
- The OCHNA report, which lists civilian casualties, includes no mention of any incident involving an entire Palestinian family being crushed under an Israeli tank.65
The area of the alleged incident (red) and the blocks evacuated before the incident (red blocks)66 Amina’s house was well within the evacuated block 10 and should have been clear of all residents.
- The report stated: “On January 23, the Israeli army sent evacuation orders to the residents of blocks 107 to 112, which included Nasser Hospital.”
- There were also no reports by NGOs of the incident relating to the 22 of January (the date the video showing the wounded Amina was filmed), the 23 of January (the date cited in the Euromed report) or otherwise.67
The Alleged Tank Incident As An Indicator Of Low Research Integrity
Lee Mordechai, a seasoned researcher and academic, seems to believe that a human being can be run over by a tank time and again and escape with mild eye injuries. According to Haaretz, Mordechai served as an officer in the IDF engineer corps. Thus, it is safe to assume that he is well aware of the implausibility of his own tank incident narratives.68
The Bullet That Came Two Months Late
“IDF Snipers Targeting Little Children”
Mordechai claims that Israeli snipers deliberately targeted Palestinian children. To prove this, he refers the reader to an April 2, 2024 article in the UK Guardian titled (“Not a normal war’: doctors say children have been targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza.”69
The article includes a photo of a CT scan allegedly showing “a bullet lodged in the skull of an eight-year-old Palestinian girl.” The photo was provided by Dr. Vanita Gupta, an intensive care doctor based in New York City. Gupta, who was volunteering at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, reported that children were being brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds in their heads.
Fact-Checking The CT Scan
- The date on the CT scan provided by Gupta (bottom right corner) reads March 16, 2024.
- Dr. Gupta said in an interview with the Forward that she volunteered at the hospital in January 2024, as part of a “10-day humanitarian mission to Gaza.”70 Thus, she had concluded her mission and left Gaza two months before this scan was done,71 such that she could not possibly have been a “witness” of this particular gunshot wound, or attest to the credibility of the narrative behind it.
- The caliber of the bullet shown in the CT scan appears to be 7.62mm.72 This ammunition is used mostly in AK-47 assault rifles – standard issue for Hamas operatives. The vast majority of IDF-issued firearms are M-4 carabines, which use 5.56 caliber.
There are objective reasons to believe that the CT scan provided by Gupta is fake:
- The bullet in the scan showed no sign of fragmentation or of any change in shape resulting from impact. This is highly unlikely given the ballistics of a sniper rifle projectile. Sniper bullets are designed to split, break, or expand to cause maximum tissue damage; this bullet appears never to have been fired at all.
- Given the large caliber of the bullet, it is highly unlikely that the impact of such a bullet in a little girl’s skull would inflict no additional cranial trauma that would be visible in a CT scan (i.e. ruptures, damaged tissue, hemorrhage, edema, fractured skull, deformations, etc.). The absence of such evidence in the CT scan seriously undermines its credibility.
- In the Guardian report, another doctor described the impact of a sniper firearm bullet:
“When it’s a sniper, usually it’s a bigger bullet, which causes significantly more damage and has more shock-wave energy as compared to a smaller rifle or a pistol. If it’s a sniper, it may cause amputation of the limb because it will cause damage to the vascular structure – nerves, bone, soft tissue, everything.”73
That is, the little girl’s head should have exploded from the impact of the bullet – yet she had no signs of any such physical trauma and the CT scan shows the skull to be completely intact.
- Also in the Guardian report, a pathologist described the CT scan as showing a “gunshot wound to the head entering right side with bullet in brain (medial right temporal lobe).”74 But in fact the trajectory of the bullet cannot be determined by this particular CT scan, unless an axial scan of the skull were also to be provided. The fact that such a scan, which would have shown a much clearer picture of the damage, was not provided is suspicious in and of itself – and all the more so when the scan provided by Gupta shows only the left side of the “victim’s” head whereas the entrance wound is described as being on the right side.
All of the above are enough to rule out this CT scan as authentic and/or credible.
No Palestinian Reports Of The Shooting Incident
- Palestinian NGOs monitoring the so-called “targeting of hospitals” did not mention any such incident taking place on March 16, 2024, or even on the week before or after the alleged date, in or around the European Hospital in Khan Yunis.75
- On March 16, 2024, the date of the CT scan, a World Health Organization (WHO) team visited the hospital to deliver medical supplies.76 The WHO also mentioned no such incident in its report.77
- The Institute of Palestine Studies, an NGO, has alleged that the IDF is targeting hospitals. Yet it too has no record of a young girl being shot in the head by Israeli snipers at any time around March 16, 2024.78
Screenshot from the Institute of Palestine Studies website, an NGO that has alleged IDF targeting of hospitals
Dehumanization:
The Small Print Of A Rape Case That Didn’t Happen
After citing numerous alleged cases of sexual assaults and rape against Palestinians in his document, Mordechai attempts to base his claims by asserting that “other women have said similar things.” A footnote to this last statement informs the reader:
“In late March, a woman claimed (almost certainly falsely – L.M.) that IDF soldiers had raped Palestinians in context of a raid into Al-Shifa hospital, but the account was removed and both a former editor at Al-Jazeera (that published it) and the woman’s brother stated it was false.”79
In his Haaretz interview, Mordechai explains that although Al-Jazeera, the outlet that published the rape accusation in the first place, had eventually retracted it, he still wanted to be sure that he was not “silencing a victim” of rape. Therefore, he chose to reframe what even Al-Jazeera deemed to be a false report under the definition of “almost certainly” a false report of rape.
However, only truly meticulous readers who scrutinize footnote 562 on page 52 of Mordechai’s long list of allegations against Israel would know that IDF soldiers never raped Palestinian women.
Dehumanization:
The “Human Animals” Description That Wasn’t
How To Lie By Misquoting
In the section titled “Dehumanization of Palestinians,” Mordechai quotes Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as having called the Palestinians in Gaza “human animals.” Mordechai goes on to accuse “at least five other government ministers” of having “made similar statements as late as May.”80
Here, again, is a misleading, manipulative presentation of information. The source to which Mordechai directs the reader as “evidence” is an October 12, 2023 article in Politico. Mordechai’s manipulation of context is visible right from the article’s headline: the article is headlined “Israeli envoy: Hamas animals must be destroyed.”81 The article goes on to quote Israel’s Ambassador to Berlin Ron Prosor as calling the militants from the armed wing of Hamas “bloodthirsty animals” – he was not referring to the Palestinians as animals.
Defense Minister Gallant did use the term “human animals” – he too was referring to Gazans who played an active part in the October 7 attack:
“The entire security system is determined to bring to justice anyone who has acted against the citizens of Israel, whether it is a declared terrorist or a civilian who participated in this heinous act of murder. There are only two options for these people – prison or the cemetery… This is not about a battle or a war – this is about the worst human degradation, the actions of these human animals, and we will finish the judgment against them.”82
Famine, Starvation, And The Prevention Of Aid
Telephone famine, SMS starvation
Mordechai cites reports by the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health claiming that “as of mid-April, at least 31 people (of which 28 were children) in Gaza died of malnutrition or dehydration.”
This data is refuted by a WHO analysis of food insecurity in Gaza. According to a WHO report from February 19, 2023:83
“Due to security and access challenges throughout the Gaza Strip, it is nearly impossible to collect anthropometric data to measure rates of acute malnutrition…”
The report acknowledges that the WHO had to resort to “an innovative method of analysis” based on “data collected through telephone and SMS questionnaires” to establish the level of starvation in Gaza.84
An earlier report by IPC determined that
“[t]he available data on mortality does not provide sufficient disaggregation by cause of death to allow the contribution of non-trauma mortality to be determined during the current analysis period… At the time the analysis was conducted, the all-cause death toll reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH) had not surpassed the extremely high death rate associated with a Famine classification.”85
The Aid Truck Rashomon
When a Late Antiquity Historian can’t get his facts right from two months ago
In his report, Mordechai first states:
“Israel has placed a stranglehold on the Palestinian population of Gaza since the beginning of the war. The absence of supplies in Gaza – a siege – has been the stated policy of top Israeli officials since the beginning of the war.”
However, he immediately admits that “throughout the war, only some 100-150 full truckloads have been allowed in daily.”
On October 23, 2024, Jotam Confino, correspondent for the UK Telegraph, provided full data regarding aid trucks going into Gaza over the past year based on official data from COGAT (the Israeli unit for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories). In the X post, he also provided video footage of the stream of trucks crossing the border.86 According to Confino, who quoted COGAT data, 55,000 trucks carrying 1 million tons of aid had entered the Gaza strip since the beginning of the war.
The tweet by Jotam Confino (X.com/mrconfino/status/1849044266707747051, October 23, 2024)
Screenshots from Confino’s tweet: Aid trucks are loaded at Erez crossing and transfer humanitarian aid to northern Gaza (X.com/mrconfino/status/1849044266707747051 )
A Real Witness Speaks Up About Hamas’ Involvement In Hijacking Aid Trucks In Gaza
Mordechai also brings up the high prices of basic products in Gaza markets, blaming Israel for “weaponizing” the distribution of aid.
This accusation is refuted by Palestinian journalist Ayman Khaled, who exposed Hamas’ complicity in the hijacking of aid trucks going into Gaza. He said:
“Thousands of people are involved in this operation – hijacking the trucks, getting them in, unloading them, selling [the aid] to merchants, and then distributing it. This operation has been going on for a year now. It did not happen overnight. Therefore, when Hamas says that it killed the two people who are responsible for this, it is fooling us. This is nonsense. This is illogical. Nobody believes that. Today, Hamas is present at the markets. The aid is being sold in the markets of Gaza for more than a year now. Where have you been, Hamas? Oh right, they have been busy liberating Jerusalem. Maybe that is why you were busy liberating Jerusalem. However, when the story became known, you decided to execute two people. Even if you were to execute 100 people for stealing the aid – this operation cannot be carried out by 100 people. This is an organized operation… Enough! Enough, Hamas! You are accomplices.”
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here.
The Hostages
Who’s holding whose hostages, and where? Don’t ask Lee Mordechai
The section titled “Hostages” on Lee Mordechai’s website is presented as an Israeli war crime alongside “The Massacre of Palestinians,” “Dehumanization,” and “Causing deaths of civilian population,” rather than as a war crime committed by Hamas on October 7.
A screenshot from Lee Mordechai’s website. The “Hostages” section blames Israel for Hamas’s holding of Israeli hostages; he writes that “the Israeli government has refrained from making serious moves to release the 120+ Israeli hostages that remain in Gaza,” but fails to mention Hamas even once (Source: Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/1093-2)
As Mordechai’s entire website is dedicated to presenting atrocities allegedly committed by the State of Israel, an unsuspecting reader might think that Israel has taken Palestinians as hostages.
Furthermore, Mordechai blames Israel for the fact that Hamas is holding Israeli hostages.
To support his claims, Mordechai quotes sources from Qatar87 – a deceiving, terror-mongering state that is responsible for massive terrorist activities worldwide, including the 9/11 attacks and the October 7 attack on Israel.88
This is consistent with Mordechai’s quoting Hamas terrorists residing in Qatar as evidence of what happens in Gaza.
[1] Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com, accessed December 24, 2024.
[2] History.princeton.edu/people/lee-mordechai-dav, accessed December 24, 2024.
[3] Aurdip.org/en/bearing-witness-to-the-israel-gaza-war, accessed December 24, 2024.
[4] Aurdip.org/en/bearing-witness-to-the-israel-gaza-war, accessed December 24, 2024.
[5] There have been several reports of the website being inaccessible for Israeli readers.
[6] Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Bearing-witness-to-the-Israel-Gaza-War-18.6.24.pdf, June 18, 2024.
[7] New.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/mainsite/files/eisenberg_mordechai-the_justinianic_plague_and_global_pandemics_1.pdf, accessed December 24, 2024.
[8] Huji.academia.edu/LeeMordechai, accessed December 24, 2024.
[9] Ihl-databases.icrc.org/pt/ihl-treaties/genocide-conv-1948/article-2?activeTab=, accessed December 24, 2024.
[10] Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/appendix-1-why-genocide-18-6-24/, accessed December 24, 2024.
[11] Israel W. Charny (1931 – 14 December 2024) was a world renowned expert on the subject of genocide. He was the editor the Encyclopedia of Genocide, and executive director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem.
[12] Unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000119263.
[13] Ihgjlm.com/2024/06/19/what-is-genocide/, accessed December 24, 2024; Genocidewatch.com/single-post/leading-genocide-scholar-israel-charny-on-gaza-war, March 27, 2024; this article was first published by Charny on his blog at Times of Israel on February 2, 2024, Blogs.timesofisrael.com/gaza-fight-is-humanly-and-legally-just-but-deserves-ceasefire-if-hostages-freed.
[14] Ihgjlm.com/2024/06/19/what-is-genocide/.
[15] Ihgjlm.com/2024/06/19/what-is-genocide/.
[16] Genocidewatch.com/single-post/leading-genocide-scholar-israel-charny-on-gaza-war, March 27, 2024.
[17] Genocidewatch.com/single-post/leading-genocide-scholar-israel-charny-on-gaza-war, March 27, 2024.
[18] Jones claimed that Israeli hostages brought into Al-Shifa Hospital by Hamas on October 7 were there “for medical treatment.” X.com/owenjonesjourno/status/1726330093692440597, November 19, 2023. He also expressed doubts about the evidence of rape and sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli women on October 7: Youtube.com/watch?v=mc5iG3DX7ho, November 27, 2023.
[19] Youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqD-C0M3I, May 15, 2024, 15:13-15:36 in the video.
[20] Cipgs.princeton.edu.
[21] In his article of November 9, 2022, Gahmhari-Tabrizi wrote that “women’s social mobility and presence in public sphere grew exponentially in the past four decades” under the regime in Iran. Counterpunch.org/2022/11/09/how-the-islamic-revolution-gave-rise-to-a-massive-womens-movement-in-iran, November 9, 2022. In another article, in 2017, he claimed that “Iran has also changed significantly since the brutal years of the 1980s reign of terror,” which now makes it “the solution and not the problem” in the Middel East. Counterpunch.org/2017/02/28/a-paradigm-shift-in-the-middle-east-iran-as-the-solution-not-the-problem, February 28, 2017.
[22] Dailyprincetonian.com/article/2024/04/princeton-news-adpol-gaza-solidarity-encampment-mccosh-courtyard-updates-live, April 25, 2024; Dailyprincetonian.com/article/2024/04/princeton-news-sit-in-gaza-family-faculty-postdocs-letter-support-arrested-graduate-students-popular-university, April 27, 2024.
[23] Further details on this are provided in the next section of this article.
[24] En.history.huji.ac.il/people/lee-mordechai.
[25] History.princeton.edu/people/lee-mordechai-dav.
[26] Cipgs.princeton.edu/about/history-mission.
[27] Cipgs.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf3586/files/mossavar-rahmani-center-directors-report-july-2015-dec-2016.pdf.
[28] Dailyprincetonian.com/article/2024/04/princeton-news-adpol-gaza-solidarity-encampment-mccosh-courtyard-updates-live, April 25, 2024; Dailyprincetonian.com/article/2024/04/princeton-news-sit-in-gaza-family-faculty-postdocs-letter-support-arrested-graduate-students-popular-university, April 27, 2024.
[29] Cipgs.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf3586/files/mossavar-rahmani-center-directors-report-july-2015-dec-2016.pdf.
[30] MEMRI Special Report No. 1463, Princeton University Academic And Former Iranian Nuclear Negotiator Hossein Mousavian Voiced Support For Hamas, Hizbullah In German Newspaper, April 5, 2024.
[31] MEMRI Special Report No. 1463, Princeton University Academic And Former Iranian Nuclear Negotiator Hossein Mousavian Voiced Support For Hamas, Hizbullah In German Newspaper, April 5, 2024.
[32] Coinage.princeton.edu/project-team/, accessed December 24, 2024.
[33] Coinage.princeton.edu/our-sponsors/, accessed December 24, 2024.
[34] Haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-12-05/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/massive-database-of-evidence-compiled-by-a-historian-details-israels-war-crimes-in-gaza/00000193-979b-d408-a7d3-bfdbf1410000, December 5, 2024.
[35] Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/1093-2, accessed December 24, 2024.
[36] Aurdip.org/en/bearing-witness-to-the-israel-gaza-war, accessed December 24, 2024.
[37] Mordechai has many more arguments against Israeli policy in the West Bank. Since his website is titled “Bearing Witness To The War In Gaza,” this document critically examines only Mordechai’s claims about the Gaza war.
[38] Aurdip.org/en/bearing-witness-to-the-israel-gaza-war, accessed December 24, 2024.
[39] Haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-12-05/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/massive-database-of-evidence-compiled-by-a-historian-details-israels-war-crimes-in-gaza/00000193-979b-d408-a7d3-bfdbf1410000, December 5, 2024.
[40] Mordechai refers to information submitted by South-Africa in its complaint against Israel, before the ICJ on December 2023- Information quoted as evidence on Mordechai’s website.
[41] Haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-12-05/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/massive-database-of-evidence-compiled-by-a-historian-details-israels-war-crimes-in-gaza/00000193-979b-d408-a7d3-bfdbf1410000, December 5, 2024.
[42] Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/1135-2/, June 18, 2024.
[43] Ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-179-gaza-strip, June 14, 2024.
[44] Mekomit.co.il/%D7%94%D7%A6%D7%91%D7%90-%D7%91%D7%93%D7%A7-%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%A6%D7%90-%D7%A9%D7%93%D7%99%D7%95%D7%95%D7%97%D7%99-%D7%94%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%92%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%93-%D7%94%D7%91, December 24, 2024.
[45] Ynet.co.il/news/article/h1q3hda2c, October 9, 2024.
[46] See UN report A/HRC/56/CRP.3, paragraph 84. Un.org/unispal/document/coi-attacks-7october2023-report-10jun24/.
[47] Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/1135-2/, June 18, 2024.
[48] For more information, see “Dehumanization: the small print of a rape case that didn’t happen,” in this report.
[49] MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1751, Al-Jazeera Arabic: The Qatari-Owned TV Channel That Promotes Islamist Terrorism Worldwide – UPDATED, May 6, 2024.
[50] X.com/SaulStaniforth/status/1800790290783248589, June 12, 2024.
[51]Euromedmonitor.org/ar/article/6201/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A:-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A2%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AF%D9%87%D8%B3%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8E%D8%A7-%D9%88%D9%87%D9%85-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A1, March 3, 2024.
[52] X.com/RamAbdu/status/1763568100266414341?lang=ar-x-fm, March 1, 2024.
[53]Euromedmonitor.org/ar/article/6201/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A:-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A2%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AF%D9%87%D8%B3%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8E%D8%A7-%D9%88%D9%87%D9%85-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A1, March 3, 2024.
[54] Dw.com/en/fact-check-video-does-not-depict-israeli-war-crimes/a-67777422, December 20, 2023; Dw.com/en/fact-check-ai-generated-images-of-children-in-gaza/a-68146699, February 2, 2024.
[55]Euromedmonitor.org/ar/article/6201/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A:-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A2%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AF%D9%87%D8%B3%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8E%D8%A7-%D9%88%D9%87%D9%85-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A1, March 3, 2024.
[56] Euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6202/Israeli-tanks-have-deliberately-run-over-dozens-of-Palestinian-civilians-alive, March 4, 2024.
[57] Weatherspark.com/h/d/98164/2024/2/29/Historical-Weather-on-Thursday-February-29-2024-in-Gaza-Palestinian-Territories#Figures-Temperature, February 29, 2024.
[58] Euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6202/Israeli-tanks-have-deliberately-run-over-dozens-of-Palestinian-civilians-alive, March 4, 2024.
[59] In Mordechai’s words, “A human rights organization documented other occasions in which Israeli soldiers have deliberately driven over dozens of Palestinian civilians while they were alive.” Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/1135-2/, June 18, 2024.
[60] Euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6202/Israeli-tanks-have-deliberately-run-over-dozens-of-Palestinian-civilians-alive, March 4, 2024.
[61] Dohanews.co/qatar-evacuates-13th-batch-of-wounded-palestinians-from-gaza, February 5, 2024.
[62] X.com/EyeonPalestine/status/1749473396117610637, January 22, 2024
[63] Pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3702240, June 12, 2013.
[64] Ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-101, January 24, 2024.
[65] Ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-101, January 24, 2024.
[66] Map was composed based on Google Maps location of Amina’s house near Taiba towers (أبراج طيبة) and the blocks that were evacuated according to Doctors without Borders. Doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/how-israeli-army-besieged-nasser-hospital, April 4, 2024.
[67] Doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/how-israeli-army-besieged-nasser-hospital, April 4, 2024.
[68] Haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-12-05/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/massive-database-of-evidence-compiled-by-a-historian-details-israels-war-crimes-in-gaza/00000193-979b-d408-a7d3-bfdbf1410000, December 5, 2024.
[69] Theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/02/gaza-palestinian-children-killed-idf-israel-war, April 2, 2024.
[70] Forward.com/opinion/594751/doctor-gaza-medical-mission/, March 20, 2024.
[71] Theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/02/gaza-palestinian-children-killed-idf-israel-war, April 2, 2024.
[72] This assessment is based on the proportions cited in the CT scan provided by Gupta. The small green line marked at the center of the scan as “7.38mm” is slightly smaller than the bullet’s caliber, as shown in the same scan.
[73] Theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/02/gaza-palestinian-children-killed-idf-israel-war, April 2, 2024.
[74] Theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/02/gaza-palestinian-children-killed-idf-israel-war, April 2, 2024.
[75] Gazahcsector.palestine-studies.org/en/node/74, accessed December 24, 2024.
[76] Gazahcsector.palestine-studies.org/en/node/74, accessed December 24, 2024.
[77] Who.int/emergencies/situations/conflict-in-Israel-and-oPt, accessed December 24, 2024.
[78] Gazahcsector.palestine-studies.org/en/node/74, accessed December 24, 2024.
[79] Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Bearing-witness-to-the-Israel-Gaza-War-v6.5.5-5.12.24.pdf, p 52.
[80] Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/1117-2, June 18, 2024.
[81] Politico.eu/article/ron-prosor-israel-evoy-hamas-animals-must-be-destroyed/, October 12, 2023.
[82] Ynetnews.com/article/sypcutspc, October 7, 2024.
[83] Who.int/news/item/19-02-2024-children-s-lives-threatened-by-rising-malnutrition-in-the-gaza-strip, February 19, 2024.
[84] Who.int/news/item/19-02-2024-children-s-lives-threatened-by-rising-malnutrition-in-the-gaza-strip, February 19, 2024.
[85] Ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_Famine_Review_Report_Gaza.pdf, December 21, 2023.
[86] X.com/mrconfino/status/1849044266707747051, October 23, 2024.
[87] Witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/1093-2, accessed December 24, 2024.
[88] MEMRI Daily Brief No. 685, The Qatar Monitor (TQM) – A New MEMRI Project In Defense Of The U.S. And Western World, December 10, 2024.