Day 694 - Legal expert Menachem Rosensaft: Israel is not committing genocide

5 snips

Aug 30, 2025

Menachem Rosensaft is a notable adjunct professor of law at Cornell and Columbia, specializing in genocide. He explores the vital distinctions between genocide and crimes against humanity, cautioning against the dilution of these definitions in public discourse. He discusses Raphael Lemkin's historical impact on genocide recognition and addresses the complexities within the Israel-Hamas conflict. Rosensaft critiques the rhetoric from far-right Israeli politicians and underscores the importance of precise language in legal contexts, especially regarding accusations of genocide.

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ANECDOTE

Classroom Demographics Reflect Global Interest

Rosensaft has taught genocide and antisemitism courses at Cornell and Columbia for over a decade.
His recent Columbia class included students from India, Italy, France, Australia, and Rwanda, with few Jewish students.

INSIGHT

Genocide Requires Specific Intent

The Genocide Convention narrowly defines genocide as intent to destroy a protected group in whole or part.
This specific intent requirement (dolos specialis) makes genocide legally distinct from crimes against humanity.

INSIGHT

Lemkin's Concept Was Narrowed By Diplomacy

The 1948 convention narrowed Lemkin's broader concept into a precise legal term covering ethnic, religious, national, or racial groups.
Political and cultural groups were deliberately excluded during drafting, shaping today's limits of the law.

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with legal expert on genocide Menachem Rosensaft.

Rosensaft is an adjunct professor of law at Cornell Law School and lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School, where he teaches the law of genocide -- since 2008 at Cornell and since 2011 at Columbia. A dedicated pro-Israel US Jewish leader, Rosensaft is the general counsel emeritus of the World Jewish Congress and has been part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, most notably sitting with PLO leader Yasser Arafat alongside four other American Jewish leaders in 1988, after which Arafat said he recognized the State of Israel's right to exist.

Rosensaft discusses the important legal and rhetorical distinction between genocide and crimes against humanity or war crimes, feeling that the definition's precision is being diluted in popular use. We learn about the history and evolution of Raphael Lemkin's definition of genocide and the ripple effect it has caused.

He emphasizes that Israel cannot be held out as the sole villain in the ongoing war, and explains how Hamas exhibits genocidal intent and ideology. However, the statements from a handful of far-right Israeli politicians is making South Africa's December 2023 legal case accusing the Jewish state of genocide much harder to win.

Finally, he rails against the Israeli government's weaponization of the word "antisemitism" for all dissent against the Jewish state, but doubles down on the need for an ongoing peace process leading to a Palestinian state.

And so this week, we ask genocide legal expert Menachem Rosensaft, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Menachem Rosensaft (courtesy) / Palestinians stand on the edge of a crater after Israeli military strikes in a tent camp for displaced people near Al-Aqsa Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, August 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

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