“Our Genocide” MEMO in Conversation with B’Tselem

In this episode of a Conversation with MEMO, we speak with Shai Parnes, Public Outreach Director at B’Tselem, about the organisation’s landmark report “Our Genocide”, which declares that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Shai reflects on what it meant – emotionally, politically, and collectively – for their team to release this report from within Israeli society. We discuss the moment they knew the term genocide could no longer be avoided, and the significance of framing the report as “our genocide”.

We explore why B’Tselem waited until now to publish this conclusion, despite earlier warnings from Palestinian groups and legal scholars. Shai explains how the events of October 7 became a catalyst for annihilation, and why the current violence cannot be separated from the apartheid foundations laid between 1948 and 2023. The conversation covers key themes from the report including demographic engineering, spatial separation, ideological denial, and dehumanisation.

Finally, we take a look at the culture of denial in Israel.