In Defence of the Concept of Genocide

Exactly 80 years after Raphael Lemkin introduced the concept of genocide, it has returned strongly in public debate and in major legal cases. Yet the concept remains very controversial and influential figures like the historian Dirk Moses and the international lawyer Philippe Sands have recently renewed the questioning which has long accompanied it. This NIOD annual Holocaust and Genocide Lecture, delivered in Amsterdam on 17 October 2024, offers a vindication of 'genocide' as a socio-historical and legal idea, applied to the conflict in Gaza since 7 October 2023.