Statement on the G7 Statement Related to Israel’s War of Aggression against Iran

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security believes that the G7 leaders have demonstrated unforgivable, willful ignorance about the crime of genocide and the proper way to engage with states that are committing genocide.

The recent G7 statement on Israel’s illegal aggressive war against Iran not only fails to treat Israel as a major threat to peace and security globally, but also engages in propaganda techniques that are most commonly used by genocidal actors.

Instead of calling out Israel for genocide against Palestinians, for aggressive war against its neighbors, and for attempts to expand into neighboring territories, the G7 began its statement with an affirmation of Israel’s right to self-defense and of their support for Israel’s security. They then called out Iran as “the principal source of regional instability and terror,” despite the fact that Israel – likely with backing from the US President – chose to attack Iran without immediate provocation. They immediately add that “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”

We are left to wonder if Iran has a right to self-defense or G7 support for its security, in line with international law.

After this apparent verbal declaration of war against Iran, the G7 statement then bizarrely refers to a non-existent “resolution of the Iranian crisis,” which is somehow to bring about a “broader deescalation” and “ceasefire in Gaza.” What that “resolution” might be remains unclear, though the full text of the statement suggests they might mean regime change in Iran.

Such words have immense power in enabling – and in fact encouraging -- a genocidal state like Israel to intensify its genocide against current victims (the Palestinian people) and expand its destruction well beyond its borders (to Iran, for example, and Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen).

Such framing is also a common technique used by genocidaires – called ‘projection’ or ‘accusations in a mirror’ – the purpose of which is to reverse victims and offenders in the eyes of bystanders. The use of this framing by the non-Israeli leaders at the G7 Summit is proof of the deep transformation of language that has been brought about by their complicity in the genocide against Palestinians. They now speak like genocidaires, and seem to think like them as well.

We at the Lemkin Institute cannot imagine a worse statement from G7 leaders at this time.

The situation calls for complex diplomacy. While the Islamic Republic regime has committed heinous crimes against its own people and is unpopular at home, Israel is actively committing the mass murder form of genocide against Palestinians and is expanding its territory into neighboring states. Since Israel launched war with Iran, it has increased its killings of Palestinian civilians. Israel is known to have nuclear weapons, but there is no external regulation of them. A war between Israel and Iran will have uncontrollable outcomes that could harm millions of people worldwide and provide cover for genocides against groups in the Middle East and elsewhere.

G7 leaders should know better than to guarantee impunity to Israel. If they really do not know better, if they believe their own words, they should organize immediate training for themselves and their staffs in genocide prevention. The world needs leaders -- not amateurs or ideological puppets -- making critical decisions at this dangerous time.